Apocryphal Night
by Bleached Gears
Summary: The fifth Holy Grail War has ended. The participants have moved on, and are living their lives peacefully. At least until the ambitions of Yggdmillenia revive the Grail War and draw them back into the battle between the Masters of the Red and the Masters of the Black.
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

Chapter 1

It took a unique level of arrogance to both summon a being to enforce the rules, and conspire to break them at the same the time. Unfortunately for everyone involved in the Holy Grail War, the Einzbern's had both that level of arrogance, and an appropriate level of desperation to try it. Equally unfortunate for the Einzberns was that Angra Mainyu turned out to be a pathetically weak servant and Ruler did not take their side at all. All the Einzberns managed to do with this act of arrogance was get a large portion of the Greater Grail stolen by a mage with less than honorable intentions for it, and eventually cause a large problem for someone they would consider an enemy a few generations down the line. Which of course was small comfort for them, though by the time it actually caused problems for said enemy they would've taken any comfort they could get.

It was this series of poor decisions long ago that led to Rin Tohsaka standing nervously outside the Emiya household, trying to work up the courage to knock on the door and disturb her sister and friend's peaceful life.

* * *

Inside the house, and blissfully unaware of the incoming chaos, Sakura Matou and Shirou Emiya were making dinner. Rider had left them alone for the night, and Taiga was occupied with grading at school so they had the place entirely to themselves. They'd been exchanging small kisses and touches since Rider had left while they made dinner, and were already anticipating what would come after, which was why a knock on the door caused them both to groan.

"Can't we just ignore it?" Sakura whispered

"But what if its Fuji-nee, done grading early? She won't go home, after enough waiting she'll just break through the door, yelling about improper relations." Shirou whispered back. The fact that she'd technically be right was something they both ignored.

"We could be lucky, it could just be Issei needing you to sign something, or one of the archery club members trying to recruit you again." They doubted it though, neither one of them had ever had anything resembling that much luck in their lives. The knocking came again, this time more insistently.

Shirou moved toward the entry way, before Sakura stopped him, saying, "No senpai, you stay and keep going. If it's something urgent I'll let them in, if not we can fix it tomorrow. Tonight's for us, and you still can't turn people in need away." Shirou looked a little embarrassed at that, but Sakura quickly kissed him and said "It's one of the reasons I love you, Shirou." She spun away and started heading for the entryway. She turned right before she left the room and seeing him still watching her said "Oh and by the way, the meats burning."

She heard Shirou's shout of alarm as she spun toward the entryway, to force whoever was there to leave. She and Shirou didn't get anywhere near as many nights together as they would've liked, and unless the person on the other side of the door said the world was ending they weren't going to interrupt this one.

Which was why it was so unfortunate that the person on the other side of the door was bringing just such news.

 _I'm a terrible person._ Rin thought as she waited for one of the two in the house to open the door. _I shouldn't bother them with this, they're happy, they don't need this._ She almost turned and started to leave, but another part of her, sounding much stronger, reminded her _You need to do this. If Shirou and Sakura find out they could've helped and you didn't tell them they'll be even angrier, at least give them the choice._ That voice had gotten her this far, and she wouldn't back down now. She didn't have to like it though, as evidenced when her response to Sakura's enthusiastic "Nee-san!" was a less enthused "Sakura…" than what she wanted, and had intended, it to be.

She couldn't say much as Sakura dragged her inside, talking about how unexpected the visit was and how happy she was to see her and about how things had been in Fuyuki. Shirou saw her as she entered, greeting her just as enthusiastically as Sakura had, before exclaiming they only had dinner for two. Her protests that she'd already eaten and was fine were shot down by Sakura, who said it'd be awkward if she was the only one not eating.

They tried to make small talk throughout dinner, asking her how things at the Clock Tower where, how her apprenticeship was going and how things were here in Fuyuki. She could tell they both knew something was wrong, but where trying for her sake and so she tried to seem happy. It almost worked for a moment, she could almost imagine it was just another visit when she talked about her rivalry with Luvia (that she was winning), or how Sakura was doing on the archery team (she was also winning), or Shirou's new plans in life (he wasn't sure, and so was the only one not winning) but ultimately dinner ended and the two across from her got serious.

"So I'm guessing that you two have guessed that I'm not just here to catch up." She began awkwardly

Shirou nodded while Sakura simply said "Nee-san whatever it is we'll do whatever we can to help."

Part of Rin wanted to die at that knowing what she was about to ask, while another part was happier than it'd ever been that they cared that much. All she was able to do was start explaining while she sorted that out.

"It's about the Holy Grail War. I know you two aren't interest in anything that happens there, but I need to catch you up at least a little to start." Rin sighed, looking down and closing her eyes, before pausing for a moment to collect her thoughts. When she looked back up she was in full teacher mode. "A few weeks ago a branch family called Yggdmillenia splintered off from the Clock Tower, declaring themselves their own organization. They'd been dismissed before because they weren't a much of a clan, just a group of declining or talentless magi banding together, they hadn't had any notable contributions in decades. The Mages Association dispatched 50 hunters, to end their rebellion, and that should've been the end of it." She finished, gritting her teeth

Shirou and Sakura looked at each other, before Shirou decided to take the bait. "I take it that it wasn't?"

"If it was I wouldn't be here right now. 49 of the enforcers were instantly killed. Only one made it back, and even then it's more likely they let him go. The 49 were all impaled in a single instant by stakes from the ground that penetrated all of their defenses."

"So they have a Noble Phantasm?" Shirou asked. "I still remember most of the weapons from Archer, I can try to find-

"They don't just have a Noble Phantasm. According to the survivor they have a servant…and a fully functional Holy Grail System."

Shirou and Sakura couldn't say anything for a moment, before Sakura regained her voice and managed to quietly get out "How?"

"To the best of the Magus Associations knowledge it happened after the Third Holy Grail War. The Einzberns manipulated the war way, way more than they should have and summoned an extra servent, Ruler. The masters in that war thought Ruler would moderate the war, and fought more violently because of it, add extra tensions from World War 2 and well… The leader of Yggdmillenia, Darnic was chosen to participate and fought his way to the end of the war. He fought the Tohsaka master's servant near the Greater Grail, and the battle ended up destroying the most of the Grail. Or so Darnic said, and he and my ancestor were the only ones to make it out."

"Your ancestor didn't say anything?"

"He didn't know anything, the only reason he survived was he'd already escaped the blast. He got pulled back to London over a dispute right after the war. When the damage was discovered it'd already been two weeks. Darnic was the only reliable source, and he said the damage was from the clash."

It was Sakura who grasped it first. "You think he stole it, not that it was destroyed."

"Exactly. The Mages Association wasn't able to get there until a week or two after that, and the Tohsaka heir was in London at the time. Nobody thought the Grail system could even be damaged. The Einzberns were too far away, though I doubt Zouken would've allowed it. I'm sorry but Sakura do you…" Rin had turned to Sakura, hoping she could provide some answers.

"He didn't share much with me but I was able to figure somethings out about his regeneration. After he took a new body he'd be limited for a while, and taking a new body took time. If he was killed during the war he'd have been weakened afterwards. There's also a chance he just let it happen, another Grail War would be another chance to win for him, as long as he could rebuild this Grail he'd be fine with it."

"That seems likely, that's exactly what the families did in the end, rebuilt from what was left. How it happened doesn't, Yggdmillenia has a Holy Grail just for them either way, they modified it to only grant command seals to their members. No one in the association received any, and neither did you or I."

"And when they use it, they can wish for whatever they want." Shirou added "But the Grail's corrupted, it'll just end up destroying them."

Rin shook her head. "Not necessarily, I've been researching the past Grail Wars trying to find out what went wrong. I think the Grail was corrupted during the Third War, records are hard to find, but I've found some evidence. The Einzberns summoned a Ruler servant to moderate the war, but they were also bragging about their berserker, claiming they'd summoned a demon."

"And you think they succeeded?" Shirou cut in

"Maybe, the grail was corrupted by Angra Mainyu, an evil god. No matter what they were already messing with the system with Ruler. They might've tried to summon a demon or a spirit less bound by honor than a hero to try and get the upper hand. Think about how effective Kotomine was because he preyed on decency and peoples honor, they must've thought it would work even better on servants."

"So when the evil servant went into the Grail it corrupted it." Sakura finished. "I think you're right nee-san. When I was the grail it felt angry and hateful, but not like it was always that way, like it had been twisted into it. I think when the Einzberns summoned their Berserker they summoned Angra Mainyu and when it was absorbed it tainted the grail. But you think the remaining system still works."

Rin nodded. "Unllike that false priest Darnic has no use for a grail that just destroys the world, he actually needs to make a wish. Beyond that if we're right the corruption was in the Greater Grail container, the only part Darnic didn't get. It would've spread from there into the rest of Fuyuki's grail."

"But it could still be corrupted, right?" Shirou pointed out. "Darnic could have a tool to destroy the world and not even know about it. And how does this concern us, there isn't much we can do about it. I'm nowhere near Archer's level and Sakura hasn't studied magecraft any." That Rin might be there to ask Sakura to act as a substitute Grail wasn't mentioned. It wasn't something Rin would ever ask of her sister.

"She wants to use Rider." Sakura said "The only way to beat a servant is with a servant. She wants to use Rider to take out their servant and them before they can start the ritual."

Rin looked down at that and said quietly "I wish it was just that. Then we'd have more control and could dictate terms, but it isn't. Remember how I mentioned one hunter wasn't killed instantly? Well he managed to activate a failsafe. Seven Association masters will be chosen and another Holy Grail War will start, only this time with 14 servants."

"14 sevants…" Shirou sputtered out. The idea was beyond him, with only seven servants there'd been havoc and those were through 1 on 1 fights. An all-out war between multiple servants would cause even more destruction.

"The Association insisted on it." Rin continued "After the first war showed what the servants could do the Association was afraid the founding families would use them to take over. The failsafe to summon seven servants to oppose them was meant to allow the Association an even playing field, though the number of mages the Association had made it more of an advantage to them, greater numbers and all that." Rin's voice went somber before she continued. "When they heard about the failsafe being tripped, the Mage Association went crazy. It was a chance to get a powerful familiar, and maybe reach the root or a true magic. None of them could directly step in, they couldn't secure their crests in time, so The Association decided to hire mercenaries to secure the Grail. I couldn't participate because of the Tohsaka crest, but I needed to have someone who could act for me, prevent them from doing something terrible. I'm sorry, Shirou, I'm so sorry." She repeated looking at Shirou. She looked like she was about about to break down.

Sakura moved around the table and hugged Rin saying "Its fine nee-san. I'm sure senpai would've wanted to go anyway, and we can't just let anyone get their hands on a Holy Grail."

"Yeah, you didn't think I'd just let a bunch of random mercenaries get their hands on the Holy Grail, did you? You securing a position for me just makes it easier." Shirou added.

"Shoulda know a pair of idiots like you would be happy about this." Rin said, as Sakura let her go. "There are a few more things before you go though." She pulled out an envelope before continuing. "This war will be in Trifas, in Transylvania, I've got your plane ticket already, but you'll need to go to London first. They'll give you a catalyst there, and once you land in Transylvania the command seals should appear." She got the same nervous look from earlier before continuing "Shirou, how much do you know about Archer..., my Archer?"

"You mean that he's a future me?" The look of shock on their faces was well worth the blunt response. "It took me a little while to figure out, but after I saw his memories, I understood."

That got a nod from Rin before she said quietly. "Ilya told me before she sacrificed herself, but the reason I'm bringing it up is because there's a chance the Grail could use you as a catalyst and summon Archer instead of whatever servant the Mages Association provides." She paused for a second before continuing "As great a servant as Archer was, he isn't what we need for this war, we'll need more raw firepower than he could provide. Plus I got the feeling he never really liked you"

"Yeah, but I don't think that'll happen." Shirou said. "Archer and I are incompatible now, the whole arm transfer thing proved that pretty well. And this body isn't the same as his anymore."

"I know, but it's still a chance. So we need to summon another servant, one you have a closer relationship with."

"You mean Saber." Sakura cut in. "That would be nice, a second chance between you and her. But we don't have a catalyst for her, and we can't guarantee The Association will have one."

"I know." Rin said before she looked at Shirou "Unless you can…?"

Shirou closed his eyes and looked inward, past his own experiences and memories and into Archers'. He looked past the last memory of his servant, past the tainted being she'd become and toward what she had been before. He saw her again, in a memory that was and wasn't his, standing before him in the moonlight the first night they'd met, then standing proud against Lancer. He saw them fighting Berserker, Caster, and a Golden King in memories that weren't his. He saw a final goodbye, and the end of another war.

He saw a single sword, standing proud in a world all his own.

 _Trace On._

Caliburn formed in his hand, feeling like a long lost friend.

"Good, and that clears up another question. I was going to ask how much of Archer's knowledge you still had but it seems like you'll be fine. What? I can't have a representative of the Tohsaka family show up who can't use any magic." She said smiling when she saw the questioning look on their faces. "Have you been practicing at all, or just slacking off?"

The sidelong glance Shirou gave Sakura answered that question but Shirou still felt the need to get out some defense. "I mean, a little every now and then, just enough that if someone attacked the house I'd be able to stop them."

"Sure." Rin said, being able to project more efficiently was sure to be helpful if anything got past the servant, the first noble phantasm, and effectively limitless prana Sakura possessed. But those were points for another time. "You'll be less efficient without Archer's help, and you shouldn't show off your magic too much anyway. The ability to create weapons at that level is an ability any mercenary would kill for, and I mean that literally. The Association hired the most effective magic users, not the most scrupulous or nice."

As Shirou nodded and dismissed Caliburn, Sakura had a realization. "Nee-san, if you were able to get a representative what about the Einzberns?"

"They don't have one as far as I know. Jubstacheits unreachable, probably withdrawn after the failure of the Holy Grail War, and things are moving too fast to wait for him to act. You were the last Matou as far as anyone can find, and you've stated you have no interest in the world of magic. None of the founding three families but mine are still involved with the War at all."

Rin stood up before stretching and saying "Well I've said all I needed to, so I'm gonna head home for the night. The plane leaves tomorrow so I'll let you two have one last night alone." Rin headed to the door as the other two stammered out denials and blushed. "I'll be over tomorrow before you leave to make sure everything's in order before you go." She turned to Sakura next "I'll be staying Japan for a little while after you leave, I need to investigate the Grail here to see if there's any way to spot if the Trifas Grail is corrupted, but I think I can make some time for my sister." Seeing Sakura's happy smile and nodding she finished saying "I'll see you two tomorrow then."

"Yeah."

"Good night, nee-san"

After Rin had left the two returned to the kitchen to clean up. They worked silently, the only sounds being the scrape of plates and running water. Shirou finally broke the silence by asking "Are you really okay with this, Sakura?"

"I am. I don't like it, but I like I said earlier, I understand why you need to do it, so I'm okay with it."

"I'm sorry, but it's just too good a chance. If the Grail isn't corrupted we could wish everyone who died in the war back! Ilya, Shinji, everyone hurt by or during the war! And it's a chance to help Saber, I know she was hurting but there was just time to do anything. I know I said I'd stop being a hero but… and if the Grail is corrupted we need to destroy it."

"Not being a hero doesn't mean not helping people, Senpai. Thats a part of you, and without it you wouldn't be the person I love. I want everyone who died back then too, they deserved to live longer, better lives. Just promise me you'll come back alive."

"Not that I'll stay safe?"

"I'm not gonna ask the impossible, senpai." She giggled as she set down the last dish. She grabbed his hand and started dragging him down the hall. "Now come on, I have one night alone with you before you leave, and you owe me for keeping secrets." Shirou sighed as she pulled him into their room, silently promising he'd try his best to be safe too, not just return home to her.

* * *

 **AN: So just a few clarity things. In case you couldn't tell this takes place post Heaven's Feel, probably about a year afterward. Any timeline differences can be attributed to Darnic not getting the whole Grail and having to work a little harder to get his started. The characters will still be the same, and at the same age so everything will be pretty similar on that front. The Saber tag reprents all the Sabers in the story, Red, Black, and Blue, and all of them will have a staring role.**

 **On the chapter notes if Rin seems a little out of character in the beginning that's intentional. Shes under a lot of pressure and stress, and thinks she might be about to ruin or hurt the lives of the two people she cares about most. Basically she's in a shitty position, but can't rely on anyone else. Next time we get into the actual start of apocrypha!**

 **I'll try to update monthly, but if real life happens or I get writers block it may (will) get delayed, sorry.**


	2. Chapter 2:Arrival

**AN: I own nothing, as usual.**

* * *

Chapter 2

Kairi Shishigou was a frightening man, as was evidenced by the looks of fear that every student in The Clock Tower who passed him gave him. What was not as easily evident was that Kairi Shishigou had no idea why exactly he was so frightening. He wrote it off as a product of his frightening face, and thought, rather naively, that a simple smile would fix his image. He failed to understand that it was everything about his demeanor that frightened others, from his thuglike attire, to the scent of battle that followed him, to even the aura of death that clung to him. Even mages, those who walked with death were rightfully afraid of him, one would have to have a warped sense of danger to not consider him frightening.

Shirou Emiya's sense of danger was highly warped, which was why when Shishigou sat down next to him on a bench outside the door to the office of Rocco Belfaban he gave him a simple greeting, rather than recoiling in terror. As he replied with a not unfriendly grunt, he looked the kid over, red hair, dark pants and a green sweater over a white shirt, not exactly the most intimidating look for a magus. He doubted the kid even had any interest in the path, his eyes lacked that cold, arrogant tint that most mages got after a while. He was knocked out of those musings when he heard the kid ask "Are you one of the other mages hired for the Holy Grail War?"

It took him a moment to find an answer. _Holy Grail War?_ The Association had sent him a message with the broad details of the contract, including the fact that he would be working with a team of mages, he'd assumed to destroy Yggdmillenia, but apparently that wasn't right. Another thing registered after that, _"_ _ **other**_ _mages?",_ which meant the kid was a mercenary. And not one Shishigou recognized.

He realized the kid was still waiting for a reply, "Yeah, guess so. I'm Kairi Shishigou." He replied.

"Shirou Emiya."

 _Emiya. The Magus Killer. Or his son apparently._ That was right, now that he thought about it. He'd read something about that a few months ago during the inquisition about the 5th Holy Grail War. Zeltrech's return and search for an apprentice had buried everything else, but the Emiya name had been a story before that. The magus killer had adopted a kid, according to the report, one who had no interest in mage affairs. That brought him back to the question he'd first had

"Nice to meetcha. Now what'd you say about the Holy Grail War?"

"That would best be discussed in my office." A slimy voice cut in. Shishigou turned and saw Belfaban striding down the hall towards them. "My apologies for the wait, a student had a particularly complicated question and wouldn't be put off. I would introduce you, but it seems you've already met. Please come in." He continued opening the door to his office.

As Belfaban moved to his desk Shishigou instinctively gave the room a once over. The carelessly tossed around ancient scrolls and piles of books on Belfaban's desk weren't worth much to him, but something preserved on a case behind him certainly was. "This place really does have everything, huh." He said as he sat at one end of the sofa in the room. Shirou did the same at the other end.

"Hardly, it is rare but serves little purpose. Is it so valuable?"

"A preserved juvenile hydra? Is 'valuable' even the right word to use?" It was likely the only one in the entire world, valuable barely even covered it.

"It is a forgery." Belfaban chuckled. Shishigou glanced at him, but let the matter drop without any sign of disagreement. "Now on to business, I take it Ms. Tohsaka has already appraised you of the full situation?" he questioned Shirou. After he saw Shirou nod he turned back to Shishigou. "How much do you know about the events with Yggdmillenia?"

"They broke from the Mages Association recently, and took out the hunter squad you sent out to end their little rebellion. I've heard a few rumors beyond that but nothing concrete."

"Then let me clear things up a bit." Belfaban started with a smug smirk. "It wasn't a hunter squad, we sent close to 50 hunters to crush their rebellion, only one returned. He managed to find out that they'd secured a Holy Grail system and summoned a servant."

Shishigou had to pause to even process that, there were so many impossibilities involved. When he'd recovered, he said. "How the hell did they manage that. I thought the only one was in Japan."

"So did we. Unfortunately, there isn't any doubt in the matter. We saw the 49 staked hunters and the one survivor saw the servant and the system itself. Plus there was the message he brought back." Belfaban handed Shishigou a piece of parchment, enchanted to play images from the past. Shishigou would've been fine with a video, but to an old mage like Belfaban that would be anathema.

What was on it wasn't unfamiliar, a man who looked like he'd been tortured staring into empty space and muttering to himself. The parchment didn't come with sound, so Shishigou was forced to ask "What's he saying?"

 _We of the Yggdmillennia have freed ourselves from the petty political bickerings of the Association of Magi and aim to establish a new association here in Romania, a place of true inquiry for the purpose of thaumaturgy. For we possess the Holy Grail, and when it is brought to life with the souls of seven Heroic Spirits, we shall be one step closer on the path to brilliant glory_ …just that, over and over again. He was like that when we found him, he's in a coma now and it will be close to six months before he's fixed."

That brought him back to another thought. "If you want me to fight a servant I'm out. I'm not signing up for a suicide mission."

"Of course not. We want you to summon a servant."

That made sense at least. "Act as masters and win the war. The Grail should grant command seals to some association magi."

Belfaban shook his head at that. "They moved the Grail to a remote region in Romania, and used that to their advantage. They've already claimed seven command seals, The Grail won't brand any of our members."

"So what then, they just plan to kill each other for it?"

"Possibly, or they could just have their servants kill themselves. Either would be justified to reach Akasha."

Shishigou was stunned again. "The Root?" he managed to stutter out. "I thought the Grail was only supposed to reclaim the Third Magic."

"It started out as such, but that's what they intended to use the Third for, to reach Akasha."

No wonder the Mages Association had to act, if an upstart group actually reached The Root that quickly the Association would see a mass exodus. It might even turn into a civil war. But it was just another sidetrack, what he still needed to know was "How do you intend to have us summon servants then, if they already have all the command seals?"

"The surviving mage found the dormant Greater Grail, and unlocked the reserve system."

"Reserve System?"

"A system to prevent all of the masters from teaming up and using their servants to oppose the association. It distributes another set of command seals, and allows for seven more servants to be summoned."

"To oppose the initial seven." Shishigou finished. "But can the Grail Support it?" Summoning fourteen servants would be a massive drain on any leyline.

"The Grail is positioned over Trifas, and has been gathering mana from the best leylines in Romania and the East for 40 to 50 years. It's likely it has an inexhaustible supply of prana with which to summon fourteen servants."

A simple plan then, summon seven servants with higher quality masters than anything Yggdmillennia could produce and wipe them out. That left one final question. "What happens to the Grail afterwards?"

"We'll take it for safe keeping of course, though there may be problems when mages are faced with something leading to The Root."

…There it was. No provision against actually making a wish, whatever happened afterward would be up to them. Not that he wouldn't have a recovery team ready and waiting to move in as soon as the war ended.

But still if it could grant his wish… all he had to do was work around one retrival team. He was knocked out of his thoughts by another voice.

"What if the Grail's corrupted?" Shirou Emiya asked. Shishigou'd forgotten he was there, the kid hadn't said anything since they'd started talking.

"That's why we're sending you, if the Grail is corrupted you should be able to tell, and act to prevent any disaster." Belfaban slickly replied. "Does that allay your concerns?" After he received a nod from Emiya he turned back to Shishigou and asked "So do you accept the contract?"

Corrupted? A wish granting device could be corrupted? That didn't bode well, but for his wish he'd be willing to risk it. If Shirou Emiya got in the way he'd remove him too. But leaping at the opportunity would make him look weak, so he said instead.

"I have a few more questions before I can be sure."

"Of course. Ask away?"

"What about the other masters?"

"All mages of the highest skill." He said handing over a stack of papers. "The Gum Brothers and a representative from the Clock Tower are already there. Gene Rum was in earlier and agreed to the terms, but won't be able to leave until early tomorrow. In addition we have Mr. Emiya for the Tohsaka family and you, if you accept." All first rate magi, and ones he'd worked either with or against, other than Emiya. "In addition the church will be sending a supervisor."

"Is an overseer really necessary for this war?"

The church had been chosen by the three great families to act as neutral party, and arbitrate fairly. Their interest in the 'Holy Grail' had just made it easier to get them involved. An overseer wouldn't be necessary for a clash between the two feuding organizations.

"We can't exactly exclude them. It would only trouble us more if they were to side with Yggdmillennia. We'll use this opportunity to proclaim ourselves the only legitimate thaumaturgical organization."

So the church would support the organization for now. Of course for them it would just be another way to keep the association in check.

"Second Question: you need a holy relic to act as a catalyst in summoning a servant. Have you got something prepared?"

He could summon a servant using himself as a catalyst of course, but there were risks with that he wasn't willing to take. It was likely whatever servant he summoned would be highly compatible with him, but there was also the chance those similarities would cause their relationship to splinter. It would be much more reliable to use a relic to summon a strong servant, and the association should have no shortage of powerful relics.

"Of course we have them prepared for both of you." He pulled out two ebony boxes and handed them to them. Kairi opened his to find a chunk of wood with some markings on it. He thought it was unremarkable, until he went to pick it up and felt some sort of heat within the wood.

"What is this?"

"The Round Table. Where the greatest knights once talked with one another. Unfortunately, we can't guarantee which knight will be summoned" He turned to Shirou next, who was holding the hilt of a broken sword. "That is all that remains of the sword of Spartacus, the greatest rebel in all of history. His summoning should be much more certain. Do you find them satisfactory?"

"Any Knight of the Round summoned would be a pass in my book." Shishigou said. Shirou just nodded once, though Kairi didn't miss how his eyes lingered on the fragment of the Round Table.

"I'll take that as your acceptance then." Belfaban said smirking.

Shishigou thought for a second before responding. Everything had been prepared to summoned a servant, and even though Yggdmillennnia would have summoned a servant to take advantage of their location, it wasn't and insurmountable advantage. They would have seven servants with which to do combat, and even though the other side had the same number it limited the power of any one servant.

Most importantly, though, was Shishigou's wish. One that could only be granted by an omnipotent wish granting device. Something Belfaban knew.

That decided it then. Shishigou pulled out and lit a cigarette before nodding. He took a deep drag, relishing the poison in his lungs before exhaling with just as much force. Belfaban was grimacing now, the man hated cigarettes.

"Then we have our seven masters. The Yggdmillennia clan has seven masters, and so the association shall send seven. Fourteen servants will be summoned, to fight in the Great Grail War."

A seven servant on seven servant war. Nothing in the history of the Grail Wars had ever been similar to this, it had always been a seven servant free for all. He didn't even want to think about the state Trifas would be in when the war was done.

There was only one more thing to secure. "I want half up front, if you're fine with that we can sign right now."

Belfaban frowned. "Is the contingency fee not enough?"

"Job doesn't have a very high survival rate. I'll take what I can right now."

"I take it you already have something in mind."

Shishigou got up from the sofa and walked over to the display case. Without any hesitation he lifted up the case with juvenile hydra.

"This."

"…you would be fine with a forgery?"

He nodded without hesitating. The hydra was the real deal after all. If you sold everything the Shishigou family owned it wouldn't even be worth a third of the price. Belfabans expression turned grim, but he didn't refuse.

"I'll take that as a yes then." He happily carried the Hydra's case back toward the sofa to grab his catalyst and leave.

He heard Belfaban sigh before asking Emiya "I suppose you also have a request about the contract?"

"No, the terms you and Tohsaka worked out are fine." Shirou said politely, rising.

"Off with the both of you to Romania then. I'll be in touch with the overseer. They should contact you after all the servants have been summoned."

"All right." He said as he opened the door to leave. He was hit with one last thought before he left. "What's this priests name?" An assignment this large would merit someone from the Eight Sacrament, maybe even someone well known.

"I haven't met him personally… but his name, quite ironically, is Shirou."

Shishigou turned to look at the similarly named master next to him, who just shrugged with a smile. What a small world.

After he'd closed the door to Belfaban's office he turned back to Emiya. "Guess I'll see you in Trifas then."

"Yeah, good luck." He said as he started walking away. It was the goodbye of one ally to another, and that was what they would be. At first. Shishigou had his wish, and he suspected Emiya had one as well. Eventually they'd clash over those wishes, and only one would have theirs granted. Such was the nature of the Holy Grail.

* * *

Kairi Shishigou did not meet Shirou Emiya again next in Trifas, like he expected, but instead met him sooner. Much, much sooner.

Shishigou had just settled in his seat on the plane, with all the seats adjacent to him empty (though he couldn't figure out why), and was opening the files the Association had given him on the war when he heard a not unfamiliar voice ask "Do you mind if I sit here?"

He looked up to see a familiar face, red hair, and green cardigan smiling down at him. He responded with an affirmative, and the kid started stowing his carry on above them. He sat down next to him and started reading from the same file Shishigou was. The seats around him gradually filled in as well, the passengers apparently deciding he wasn't that threatening after all. The fact the person next to him looked completely harmless probably helped a bit.

They'd taken off and been in the air for about an hour when he looked at the kid again. He'd read part of the file, the basics of the servants and classes, the remarkably simple summoning ritual and was about to get into Lord El-Melloi II's record of the Grail War before he took a break and looked at Emiya again. To his surprise the kid wasn't looking at the file, instead watching a young family a few seats in front of them with a small smile on his face.

He was about to return to the file to distract himself when he had a thought, why read an account of a Grail War when he had a first-person source right next to him. He could get all the information he needed and more from the person next to him. He cast a quick spell to block the rest of the plane from hearing him and started.

"I suppose you don't need to read a file when you've already been through a war, huh?" he said. The kid was knocked out of his daydreaming and replied "Yeah, most of its stuff I already know."

"Then give me some insider tips." He said smiling. When he saw the confused look on Emiya's face he continued. "We're all on the same side in this war, remember? Yggdmillennia have home ground, so we'll need any advantage we can get."

"That's true. What do you want to know?"

Where to start? "More about servants I suppose. I understand the classes, but any info about the servants themselves would be helpful. Legendary Heroes is a pretty broad description."

Emiya seemed to go deep into thought for a moment before saying "I guess I'd say don't forget they're people." Now it was his turn to be confused. When Emiya saw his face he chuckled a bit before continuing. "They have a reason to want the Grail, and likes and dislikes too. You have to think about your relationship with them rather than just doing things however you want. If you just think of them as a tool it won't end well."

The more Shishigou thought about it the more it made sense, in some weird way. He'd been thinking about his servant as merely a weapon to win the war, not as anything resembling a person. But the servant would be. He'd only have three command seals to compel his servant, the vast majority of actions would have to be voluntary.

The more he thought about it the more his frown deepened.

"So since I have my fragment of The Round Table I'm likely to summon a knight from Camelot. Which means they won't be open to underhanded tactics. They'll want to fight head on in honorable combat." He sighed. So much for having a strong relic, a servant that honest and straightforward might be something of a hindrance if he had to turn on the other masters to get his wish.

"I'd be willing to trade." Emiya offered.

Shishigou shook his head, smiling. But that did bring him back to another problem. Namely that Emiya's servant was far too weak. Spartacus wasn't known for his great victories or heroic efforts, but for leading a failed rebellion and fighting to the bitter end. He wasn't even that famous in Romania. He could guess that that toughness that had gotten him through his rebellions was the main reason he'd been chosen.

In the Great Grail War each servant could specialize more, rather than needing to be well rounded. His servant, which was likely to be Saber, would still be balanced, but as long as there was a tank servant others like Archer or Lancer could be more attack focused. The only possible class Spartacus could be summoned as was Berserker, he had no qualifications for any of the other classes. The class itself would buff his parameters and he could use his mindless perseverance to stand on the frontlines and draw any attack.

The problem was there were better choices, even if one was only looking at toughness. A servant with built in protections like Siegfried or Achilles would work far better to withstand the blows that would be directed at the servant. Heracles was renowned for his physical prowess and would doubtless get a huge buff from being summoned in Eastern Europe, but he had been excluded as well. The association should have had no trouble getting catalysts for any number of better defensive servants. But they hadn't. It seemed they'd given him a third-rate servant and a class that was almost useless if the alliance broke down.

All, he suspected, because of a last name. Kiritsugu Emiya might have been long dead, and his son might have inherited nothing from him but the name, but old hatreds still burned. Mages had long memories and the Magus Killer had no shortage of grudges against him. Despite professing to be greater than humanity they had no problem taking out their grudges on a child when the father wasn't available. They wouldn't act directly against him either, that would be far too common, instead they'd give him a weak servant that was only useful for one thing and crush whatever possible dream he was holding for the grail. He wouldn't be surprised if a family had contracted one of the other mercenaries to kill him after the servant died and he technically wasn't a master.

Damn he wanted a smoke, the irony of the situation almost demanded one.

It also left him with a conundrum of his own: Whether to get close to Emiya or not. On one hand, he liked the kid, he was honest, had shared information willingly, and wasn't afraid of him at all. He reminded him of her, in a way. The mage part of him disagreed though, allying closely with him would be a risky bet. If the other mages were against him standing along with him would be a problem, and his servant wouldn't have the power to help Shishigou with obtaining the Grail.

"You don't have to worry so much, most master-servant relationships turn out fine." Emiya said cutting through his thoughts. He was smiling but Shishigou could make out just a hint of concern in his eyes.

Shishigou responded with a wide grin. "My master-servant relationship'll be fine. It's yours I'm worried about. I doubt a great gladiator will want to follow someone as scrawny as you."

"Oh? Maybe I'll just use myself as a catalyst then. Get an appropriately dainty servant."

Shishigou laughed at that but it did provide an interesting possibility. Spartacus wasn't ideal, and if he'd been able to figure it out with that little thought then he bet Emiya had too. It would explain his calm about his servant and the gleam he currently had in his eyes. It also made up his mind, he wouldn't just ignore the kid. If he turned into a liability he would drop him but until then there was no point in breaking relations with him.

A path that minimized losses while maximizing gains, it was one any mage would gladly go down.

* * *

They disembarked a few hours later, as the sun was starting to set. They'd passed the rest of the time talking about Shirou's experiences in the Fifth Grail War, and Shishigou'd even learned a bit about his magecraft, a form of improved projection that interested him greatly. He hadn't been able to get much other than the projections were far more stable and long-lasting, but he'd hopefully be able to puzzle it out during the war, a skill like that would be invaluable. In exchange, all he'd had to give up was information that could be easily learned by talking to any of the other masters or reading the information in the file on him. He'd told him he was a necromancer and shared a few stories about his old jobs, though nothing that would give away his abilities.

When they both landed in Bucharest, the moment they stepped off the plane they both felt a stinging sensation on the back of their hands. Both looked down to see a set of command seals on their hands, proof they'd been accepted as masters. With that they parted ways, Shirou heading to an inn to sleep, and Shishigou to a cemetery to summon his servant.

Shirou looked at the map Rin had given him of the city. Several hotels were marked on it, along with a scrawled reminder not to let anyone but him touch his bags. The map only contained information on the hotels, neither he nor Rin had been skilled enough to get price information off the computer, so he settled for just heading to the closest one.

A more skilled magus would have been able to simply trick the manager into giving him a room, but Shirou had nowhere near that much skill, and so settled on paying the (somewhat high in his opinion) price for a room for one night.

Once he was in the room he started going through the travel bag he'd packed. A few changes of clothes, some essentials, and a bag Rin had given him were all that was inside. It was the latter he need right now. Inside were all the materials he'd need to perform the summoning. Materials for the summoning circle, a few gems, the catalyst he was supposed to use (he took that out), and a note from Rin. A perfect picture of the summoning circle, a chant in German, and the chant he was supposed to say were at the top of the paper a long with a note from Rin at the bottom.

 _Emiya,_

 _I've prepared everything you should need for the summoning, since I'm certain you haven't. Make the summoning circle out of the materials provide, EXACTLY like its shown and you should be fine to summon a servant. Use the gems to establish a bounded field to keep people away. Repeat the German above after you've place four of them in a square around the summoning location while funneling prana into the fifth and it should make a bounded field to keep wandering townspeople out. There's a map of leylines on the back for you to choose a location from. Good luck._

 _Rin Tohsaka_

 _P.S. Don't forget to call after you summon your Servant, Sakura's worried._

 _P.S.S. Don't forget to pick the gems back up after you use them, they're expensive._

Only Rin Tohsaka would attempt to micromanage that much from thousands of miles away. Besides he hadn't been completely unprepared, he had what he needed for the summoning ritual, and the chant and design were in the associations file. The leylines and bounded field would've been beyond him though, he could admit that.

He looked at the other gem Rin had given him, one that had 6:17 etched into it. Rin had stuck it on his arm and told him to wear it for 24 hours to find his time of peak magical energy. The clock nearby said 8:22 so he still had a few hours. Plenty of time to sample the local foods, the plane's food hadn't been anywhere near his standards.

It was several hours, a fair amount of Romanian food, multiple attempts at sleeping, the arrival of the seventh red master, 7 servant summonings, and one very awkward meeting with a priest before Shirou Emiya found himself climbing a hill to summon a servant. He'd chosen the hill out of all the possible locations, it felt right both for summoning her, from what he'd seen in his memories, and for him for reasons he couldn't quite explain. As far as hills went it was wholly unremarkable, it wasn't particularly tall, and its only notable feature was an ancient tree planted at the top. But still it felt right

He set the 4 gems around the hill and chanted the incantation Rin had given him while channeling prana to the fifth gem. The gem glowed before shattering, and he felt a field go up around him. He found a relatively even part of the Hill and started sketching the summoning circle. He'd memorized the chant already, including the additional line to denote the side he'd be on.

That left only one thing to do. He'd left the association's catalyst at the hotel, he'd take no chances with summoning the wrong servant, there were already far too potential problems there. Instead he focused on summoning her sword. The sword would be a projection, which meant it might call to Him just as strongly, so Shirou focused on his memories of her. They hadn't had much time together, but they had spent enough for there to be several strong memories. He took them and added them to the sword, beyond even its own history.

Caliburn fell into his hand, and he stabbed it into the ground before turning and exiting the circle. Once he was far enough out of the circle he turned back and focused once again. He focused on the image in that shed, forever burned into his memory, of her in the moonlight.

With that in mind, he began to chant.

* * *

On another hill, in another time, a knight despaired and wept.

The knight was alone, only corpses and steel for company. The strength she'd always shown in her rule had fled as well. She wept over her failure to protect her master. For whatever cursed reason she could remember everything from The Holy Grail, even the parts she'd rather never happened. She remembered the mud corrupting her, remembered attacking her master, remembered his anguished face as he'd finally ended her.

She had failed as knight, completely and utterly. For the first time, she understood Lancelot's madness. How this need to repent, to fix, to do anything to make things right could drive one insane. To not be condemned by the one you'd wronged was agony on top of that.

And so she prayed for a chance to make things right. To protect a Master and win them the Grail.

That the Grail might be corrupted didn't matter.

Her own wish barely entered her thoughts.

All she wanted was a chance to atone.

And the Holy Grail answered.

* * *

With a flash of light the Holy Grail summoned the sixth Servant of Red.

It wasn't exactly as he remembered. Her armor had changed, the dress was shorter in the front, and flared toward the back. There was more armor than he remembered, and it looked heavier. She was illuminated by the early light of dawn over the hills, rather than moonlight through a shed door. He could feel the connection between them more strongly too, a flow of prana from him to her.

But there was no doubt. The face, the sense of determination, everything about her bearing. It could be no one else. She opened her eyes and said.

"I ask of you. Are you my master?"

The moment was broken when she realized who was in front of her. Her composure cracked and she asked in a quiet voice, as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing "Shirou?"

He nodded. "Its good to see you again, Saber."

He saw a smile of pure joy come to her face at that. "It is indeed."

"Though I fear you'll have to get used to calling me Rider."

* * *

 **AN: And we're through the summoning.**

 **A basic rule for this fic is that if I don't mention it changed, it didn't change. Shishigou's summoning and meeting with Shirou Kotomine went roughly the same, and so there isn't any real point in just retreading cannon. Assume they went roughly the same with no major differences. Gene Rum's delay is for a reason, and it'll become clear later. Speaking of retreading sorry about the office scene after last times exposition, it need to be done to get Shishigou the information and introduce him to Shirou, but its still burdensome on the audience. No more exposition scenes for awhile, hopefully. There's been a small change to chapter 1, the last hunter I said was dead turned out to be both still alive and plot important, so I've changed it so Rin says he's alive. Sorry again.**

 **One difference worth mentioning is who got what servants. Shirou got the Spartacus relic, which means the servants will be under different Masters. Saber is now Rider. The old Rider is now Berserker, Spartacus is gone, and everyone else is the same. I'll explain why in detail below, but it involves spoilers. The basic reason is balance and the conflict later in the story. If you want the more exact reasons go below the spoiler break. If you haven't read Apocrypha, and don't want to spoil yourself don't read it. Before that, though, two more things.**

 **I'm aware I broke a rule with making Artoria Rider, but it had to happen. The story wasn't interesting at all if she was anything else. As a side note to the guy who asked, when I said Blue Saber I was referring to Artoria, not another faction. Her Rider armor, for reference looks like Artoria Lancers from Fate/Grand Order in her first form, minus the helmet and fur. Riding in Artoria's regular attire would be strange, and that armor looks much better for riding a horse. Shirou is dressed like he was in the last episode of Unlimited Blade Works, because it just kinda fits him.**

 **Finally I have to give credit to CanonRap from Beasts Lair, whose translation I used/borrowed from to do the office scene. I used his word for word translation in parts and edited it in others, but I still couldn't have done it without the translation. All credit to him and his hard work for that. Now into spoiler territory.**

 **Thanks for reading!**

* * *

 **SPOILERS**

* * *

-SPOILERS-

* * *

 **So Artoria is now Rider to balance the sides later in the plot. As you hopefully know Shirou Kotomine will become the vilian and it will go from Red Vs. Black to Jeanne vs Shirou. Artoria can only reasonably be summoned as Saber, Lancer, or Rider. All classes with characters that are story important. The big problem is putting her in any of those classes prevents either good character interactions or Shirou Kotomine's status as a threat. Shriou and Artoria will side with Jeanne and things get too uneven at that point. All Kotomine has at that point are either Karna or Achilles, depending on who I replace with Artoria, Atalanta, Semiramis, Shakespeare, and himself. In comparison to the completely stacked team of Jeanne, Seig, Artoria, Mordred, Shirou, and Chiron. He wasn't a real threat at that point, he needs Karna and Achilles. I tried half a dozen different ways to balance it, even trying to find an assassin for Shirou to steal to replace Black Assassin, but nothing really worked. Karna was more powerful so initially he was going to stay and so I settled on Rider Artoria. Then I realized Achilles could probably be a Berserker, confirmed it on the wiki and went into business. He went on an impressive rampage after his friends death in the Trojan War, and thats going to be the basis of his Berserker personallity. Spartacus was only important to the beginning part, and his actions could be changed/replaced and so he was cut. Sorry big guy. With that balance for the main conflict was better and the story could go on.**


	3. Chapter 3: The Second First Day

Chapter 3

They'd started returning to the hotel room Shirou had paid for after Saber, er, Rider had explained her class change and new abilities, and Shirou had told her more about the end of the 5th War (and they'd gotten Rin's gems). She'd been far more forthcoming with information this time, even explaining that she couldn't dematerialize and telling him who she was far more readily. She'd even told him far more about her abilities than last time.

While ordinarily he would've been happy that she trusted him more, it was somewhat tainted by a bad feeling he couldn't quite identify. It seemed like she was trying to make up for what she saw as her failure in the last war by being more open, but also far more protective. She had sworn to win the Holy Grail this time and protect him, with a look of devotion he wasn't entirely comfortable with.

Her new dedication to his defense was made evident as he was shoved backwards in the middle of their conversation when a familiar came flying towards them. Shirou hadn't known right away it was a familiar, until it looked at him after landing on the grass in front of him and spat out a small slip of paper before flying off. Rider bent down and picked it up, looking at it like it might be a bomb before deciding it was harmless and handing it to Shirou.

All it contained was a simple message saying _This morning at noon, Sighisoara, church on the hilltop._

"It's a message from the overseer, I guess." Shirou said in answer to Rider's questioning look. "He wants to meet at a church at 12. It's going to be a bit of a bus ride, so we'll need to leave pretty soon." The trip there would take about an hour.

"I wasn't aware this war would need an overseer. I wouldn't think the church would interfere with a war between magus associations." She replied.

"I'm not really sure. Maybe it's the fact that it's the 'Holy Grail War' and they can't let it pass, or they want more influence over the Association. Either way, it doesn't matter much to us." As Rider nodded Shirou noticed another thing. "Let's just keep going home for now, we've got some time before the meeting. At least enough time for you to get back to the hotel and get some normal clothes, you kinda stand out in that armor."

"Yes, it does stand out a bit." She chuckled. "And unlike my old armor I can't just dismiss the armored parts, cavalry dress is a bit different. I'll use the rooftops to follow you back to the house. We shouldn't draw any unnecessary attention; the whole area could be enemy territory." After walking for a little while longer they got close to the town, and would soon start running into people. Shirou nodded, as Rider lept up onto a building and crouched, attempting to hide on the slanted roofs.

They somehow made it to the hotel without being seen, and Shirou entered the room to find Rider waiting for him, standing in front of an open window. He handed her a bag, that Rin had prepared, before starting to make breakfast while she changed in his room.

She came out a few minutes later, dressed like she had during their first Grail War, and sat down at the table. He hadn't finished cooking yet, but it seemed like she was willing to wait. He eventually finished up, it was a simple breakfast, with sausage and an omelet. He set both their portions down (Rider's omelet and the number of sausages she had being much larger and far outnumbering his own) and said "I know you can actually get prana from me now, but I figured you'd still want something to eat."

"Yes." She replied while inhaling the breakfast. "While my mana levels should be more stable this time, food will help reduce the burden on you, and leave you with more energy if you need to fight. Regular meals will be a valuable strategic asset."

Of course they would, and her love of his cooking had nothing to do with it. They both ate in comfortable silence after that and when they'd both finished he couldn't help but smile slightly as she leaned back with a satisfied look that reminded him of Taiga after she'd finished one of his or Sakura's meals.

…Sakura! He was supposed to call her after the summoning! He shot up so fast he shocked Saber out of her reclining position and went right for his cell phone. He flipped it open and went straight to her number to call her.

Apparently, she'd been waiting, because she answered after it rang once. "Shirou?" she asked.

"Yeah. Everything went fine." He replied. He thought he vaguely heard Tohsaka saying "Yes!" in the background.

"That's great. So what'll you and Saber do now?"

"Well technically it's Rider now, but we've gotta meet with the overseer and rest of the masters at a church at noon, though we've got a bit of a bus ride to get there."

"Oh? So we're both Masters of Riders now. And hopefully the meeting with the other masters goes well, they're all professional mages, right?" That the meeting with the overseer would go better went unstated, a meeting with a dead apostle was likely to be more pleasant than one with Kirie Kotomine.

"Yeah, and it should be fine. I met one of them and he didn't seem bad, even if he did look a little frightening."

"Just be careful anyway. For me."

"I will."

"Well I'll let you go then, it's getting close to ten, and you shouldn't be late with contacting important people." She finished far too sweetly. He could see with frightening clarity the smile that accompanied it, and involuntarily shuddered.

"Yeah, sorry for taking so long to respond. I just got caught up with catching up and getting back." He shouldn't have waited so long, if it was Sakura on the line he'd have spent every moment worrying and pacing. He had genuinely forgotten, but that didn't make it much better.

"It's fine, I'm just happy you're okay. Even if I did wish you'd called a little sooner." She finished with a pout. "If anything goes wrong, call me and I'll send my Rider over on Bellerophon."

"I got it. I'll call again tonight, give you guys an update."

"Okay, stay safe. I love you."

"I will, love you too." He said, before hanging up. He turned to face Rider, and saw her giving him a strange look, it was a strange mix of sadness and happiness. "That was Sakura. I was supposed to call her after your summoning."

That somehow managed to make Rider look even more downcast. "I see…in case I…"

Oh…Shit. "No! It was in case I summoned Archer!"

"Archer? Why would Archer be summoned?" Whatever look she'd had before was replaced with one of pure confusion.

"I'll explain on the way, we really do need to get going." He said looking at the clock.

* * *

Rider had taken his explanation better than he'd expected, her first reaction had been to push his hair up and just stare at him for a moment. He'd added a smug smirk and that had gotten a laugh out of her, though she'd made him promise never to act like Archer. They spent the rest of the bus ride there just talking and eventually arrived at Sighisoara. The church was easy to find, being on most of the tour guides, and they made it there after some exploring, with Rider noting that the village reminded her of her own time. The church was large and impressive, with a large staircase leading up the hill. They eventually made it to the top and Shirou stopped for a moment before entering, and turned to the servant next to him.

"Hey, Rider, are you sure you can enter? At Kotomine church you couldn't, and I wouldn't…" He trailed off as he saw the look in her eyes.

"I will be accompanying you inside, Shirou. Had I followed you into the Fuyuki church things would have gone differently, and likely better than they did. Beyond that even though these other masters are our 'allies' I don't fully trust them, allies turn into foes when there's a large enough opportunity." He wanted to argue against her, but couldn't find any strong flaws, and the look in her eyes told him he would need one. After a moment she relented a little and said "After it's been proven safe, if the other masters insist I will wait outside or wherever they designate."

"That's fair." he replied, before turning back to the simple wooden door and opening it. Rider went in first and he quickly followed. The church inside was similar to the one in Fuyuki, though better lit and larger. The rows of wooden pews all lead to an alter at the front of the building, with a few doors off to the side. A large cross hung on the back wall behind the alter, which was plain except for an area on the right corner holding several displays and relics.

"Pardon me, I had other business and didn't hear you enter." A soft voice rang out. Shirou turned to see a man in priest's robes closing a door on the left side that he'd seen earlier, before turning and starting walking towards them. The tan skin and white hair with black and red clothes made him think of Archer, but he quickly dismissed that, there was no way the priest was anything like Rin's former servant. He st

He smiled as he strode toward them, saying "Welcome to The Church on the Hill. I take it you are Shirou Emiya? And this would be your servant, Rider?"

Shirou couldn't stop from glancing at Rider for a second before he replied. The priest shouldn't have known the servants class. Rider hadn't looked toward him, but her eyes had narrowed slightly in suspicion. "Um, yeah. But how did you…"

It seemed he noticed the look as he kept his smile up as he said. "You're the last master to make it the church. Most of the rest arrived over the last few days. Mr. Shishigou and Ms. Rum were in earlier this morning. With your servant, all seven on our side are accounted for. I am the master of-"

"Assassin." A female voice purred from behind him. He took a step back as he spun around to face the woman. Her appearance was regal, with long black hair and a black dress wrapped around her impressive form. Despite being an assassin there was no doubt she was a noble, her entire being spoke of unstated power, that with a single command a man could be killed. Even the frown on her face was more of distaste than actual worry.

The reason for such a frown, despite the prank she'd played a moment ago, was the invisible sword Rider had pressed against her neck. Rider had summoned her armor to match it, and the look in her eyes said she'd barely prevented herself from killing Assassin then and there. "How brutish. I'd hoped we could be more civil to each other, one Queen to another." She said, trying to push the blade away, and failing rather miserably.

"What makes you say I'm a Queen?"

Assassin finally gave up on trying to push the weapon away and took a step back to separate it from her. "There's no need for games dear." She sighed "Even in that armor your royal status shines through. Though you're clearly a warrior queen. One of the amazons, perhaps? Or of another barbarian tribe?"

Rider grit her teeth and started to respond, but the priest cut her off.

"That's enough Assassin." He cut in. He was rubbing his head as though to fight off a potential headache. "As amusing as you may find your games, they're no good if they cost us our allies trust." She glided back over towards him as she muttered an insincere apology. "Though your servants true name would be helpful. I doubt she's Spartacus." He joked.

Shirou looked away in embarrassment for a moment. Before he stopped to consider the request. A servant's true name was important, knowing it told you a servant's powers and weakness. While Rider had no easily exploited weakness from her life, it would still give away all of her powers. The priest was supposed to be an ally, but….

" _Shirou."_

" _Rider?"_

" _While the decision is yours, I would prefer if you did not tell him."_

"… _I agree, I'm not sure why but I just can't trust him."_

"I understand if you're reluctant, especially given your past with my brother, but I assure you have no bad intentions for you or this war." The priest said quietly. Apparently he'd noticed their hesitation. But that was wiped away by the rest of the sentence. "Brother?" Shirou asked.

"Ah, it seems I forgot to introduce myself. I am Shiro Kotomine, representative of the church for this Holy Grail War."

Shirou couldn't help it as his jaw dropped. It even managed to shock Saber out of her stoic expression. The two looked nothing alike, and even felt nothing alike. There was something off about Shiro, but there was nothing like the sense of raw malice that had radiated off Kirei Kotomine. He eventually managed to get out "Kirei Kotomine is your brother?"

"I'm adopted." He said with a small smile. "But regardless of that your mistrust of my family is well earned. I've heard of my brother and his plans for the Grail War, and actions pursuing it. You may keep your servants name a secret, though I hope you'll continue to work with me throughout the war."

Shirou nodded. He didn't have any solid reason to avoid working with him, but he'd still be keeping one eye on the priest. It wasn't because he was a Kotomine, but instead something else. Shirou couldn't quite figure out what it was, but something about the priest felt off. Rather than Kirei's overt evil, it was better hidden, and harder to identify.

Shiro smiled then said "I'm glad to hear that. I imagine you'll be wanting information on the servants."

"Yeah anything you have would be helpful."

"I believe I left the papers in the office, Assassin would you mind?" Shiro asked turning to Assassin. Assassin vanished in response, and which the priest seemed to take as a yes. He gestured for them to sit in the pews. Shirou took the end of a pew, and Rider took the same spot one row back. Shiro took the end of the row across from them. "We know the parameters of most of the servants thanks to scouting, and we've guessed at one of the identities."

Assassin reappeared behind Shiro in the same row and handed the priest the papers. He handed them to Shirou, who looked through them quickly. The parameters seemed a little low for all the servants except Lancer and Saber, especially compared to the Fifth War, but now that he thought about it most of the servants in that war had been extraordinary. "So what servant have you guessed?"

"There is one servant that will always be summoned to a war in Romania. Vlad III, the Impaler, Romania's greatest hero. We believe he's Lancer due to his incredible stats, and lack of compatibility with the other classes.."

Shirou would be willing to believe it. The only other servant he'd ever seen with similar stats was Berserker. "It'll probably take more than one servant to bring him down, and Saber looks like he's going to be tough to bring down too." That was just looking from their stats, if they had noble phantasms that increased their defense further it would be even more problematic.

"Normally yes, it would. Fortunately, our Lancer and Berserker are truly exceptional, and should be a match for them on their own. Saber, Archer, and Rider on our side are impressive while their Archer and Berserker don't seem to be anything special, though we won't know about Caster and Rider until we get an idea about their Noble Phantasms. Assassin present a whole different set of problems, one to tackle at another time."

"And what of our Assassin? Or our Caster?" Rider asked when it was clear he'd finished.

"I can assure you I'm quite competent, my fellow Queen. Caster is…less so, but he has other abilities to compensate."

"I had thought we were allies, there's no need to be so vague on identities and abilities."

"Rider!" Shirou objected, there was no reason to be so rude to potential allies.

"Assasin!" Shiro similarly cut off Assassin before the argument could escalate any further. "As of right now I am the only one who knows the all the identities of the other servants. Yggdmillenia will be reluctant to attack the churches representative, which is why I have been chosen to help coordinate the masters. The rest of the Red Faction Master's haven't been told the names of all the servants. I intend to reveal them once we've entered Trifas and begun the battle proper. Speaking of Trifas and the battle ahead, I have a request for you, the first actions of the war."

"Oh?"

"Your Rider has truly impressive stats, and Riders are well known as the most flexible class. I would ask that you and Rider go ahead to Trifas to scout. Yggdmillenia's hold over the town isn't complete yet, so you should be safe. Mr. Shishigou has also moved into the town and is waiting there with his servant to provide reinforcements. The rest of our forces will move in in the next few days."

Shirou stopped for a moment to consider it before answering. Scouting would be important and they'd need any information they could get if they wanted to win. Even more so since they'd be assaulting Yggdmillenia's fortress. It all made sense, tactically, but he still couldn't shake a feeling of unease. That there was something he wasn't being told or that he was being misled. He couldn't afford to fail or fall, there was too much depending on him, including Rider. Thinking of Rider, he should at least ask her about it. It was acting foolishly and alone that had gotten both of them killed last time.

" _What do you think Rider?"_

" _We should go."_

The bluntness of her reply stunned him, but after a moment he continued.

" _You're sure?"_

" _I am indeed. No matter what threat lies in Trifas, it will not harm you. I swear it, Shirou."_

 _It's not just me I'm worried about._ Though he was careful to keep that thought away from her. "We'll do it." He replied to Shiro.

The priest smiled, a genuine one this time, before rising and saying "Excellent. I look forward to fighting together. If you'll excuse me I have some planning to do for the battle."

"Of course. I'll see you in Trifas." He replied, before turning and heading out the double doors. It wasn't until they were all the way down the stairs that he asked Rider "What did you think of that?"

"He's certainly hiding something, though I'm not sure what. That he's related to Kotomine worries me as well."

"Maybe he has his own secret wish? And he's trying to get as much on the other Servants so Assassin can take them or their Masters out? What?" he asked in response to Rider's shocked face.

"I didn't know you could be so…insightful is all." She said smiling slightly. While he was pretty sure she'd meant intelligent he'd let it slide for now. Dinner would simply have smaller portions than normal. "It would explain why he wants us to go to Trifas." She said, turning serious again.

"You think we're walking into a trap too."

"I have no reason for it, but every instinct I have screams of an ulterior motive. If we're going to get attacked by potential allies I'd prefer it be in enemy territory though." That got a raised eyebrow out of Shirou, though before he could say anything Rider started explaining. "If we wait here it that gives them home field advantage, there could be any number of traps set up in the city. In Trifas the third faction adds chaos, and they can't set any traps. There are too many variables, it throws off any complicated plan. And anyone who would summon an Assassin like that will certainly have a detailed plan." Rider's scowl deepened as she sniped at Assassin, which Shirou couldn't help but chuckle at.

It seemed that no matter what Rider's pride would never fully go away.

* * *

"At least they left with more dignity than the last two fools, even if her manners were lacking in conversation." Assassin said as she watched the two walk away through Shiro's familiar perched atop the church. "How a brute like that ever became a Queen is beyond me." They'd moved into one of the back rooms, and were observing

"[The lady dost protest too much, me thinks]" A voice boomed as it entered the room. Assassin and Shiro's attention was drawn to the Caster as he blew through the door. He was clad in the apparel of a medieval English gentlemen, the book under his arm helping to complete the image. It was slightly thrown by his wilder hair and beard, though they did serve to add an older sense of class in away. "Though her beauty may be great, yours remains more resplendent, Queen Semiramis. You have naught to worry about." He said with a smile and an exaggerated bow when he reached her.

"Shakespeare. As witty as ever. Did you learn to bow and scrape like that from your own experiences with royalty, or is it just natural for one of your stature?" She shot back.

Ah, my Queen, you wound me. Truly, thou [look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under 't]"

He was looking at them for some recognition, but all he got was a confused look from Shiro. "I'm sorry, is that from one of your plays?"

That one line seemed to wound Caster more than any Assassin had said to him. He seemed to shrink and slumped while shaking his head. "Oh, Master how can it be one lives in this age yet does not know of one of my greatest works? You must read this!" He said as he thrust the book at Shiro.

Shiro took the book, _The Works of William Shakespeare,_ and looked at it for a second before setting it down. Apparently Shakespeare had been to a book store. "If I find the time." He replied. "And I believe her proper title is King, Assassin."

"King? Trust me, Master, that was certainly a woman."

"Yes, indeed she was." Shiro's smile grew a bit wider at that, as though that fact revealed something to him.

"Then would not Queen be the proper title? Unless the Grail summoned her as the wrong gender."

"The gender is correct, it is history in this case that is wrong. Though even I must admit the idea that King Arthur was a woman is truly surprising." Shiro mused.

"King Arthur?" Semiramis stuttered out "That was King Arthur?"

"It was. And her identity helped me confirm that of another servant." Shirou confirmed. He reached for a piece of paper on his desk before generating her stat sheet.

Semiramis immediately studied it and began looking everything over, but Shakespeare seemed to have not even noticed.

"King Arthur as woman? Yes, yes, that could work. Hiding it from her knights and kingdom, the dramatic tension should she ever be discovered. A marriage to another woman, and the eventual fall of that loveless marriage. Guinevere and Lancelot's betrayal, the knights turning on her after learning of her true gender! It would be a tragedy for the ages!" He said as he began pacing the room.

"…I doubt that's how it happened." Shiro felt obligated to point out.

Shakespeare brushed him off with a wave. "Creative liberties, my master. The truth is often too boring, in order to make the story resonate sometimes you must change things a little, add dramatic elements to ensure proper flow and tension."

"If you say so…" He was the famous author after all.

"You said you also found out the name of another servant." Semiramis cut in. Not that Shakespeare noticed, the author had grabbed a pen and paper and begun writing madly.

"Yes. The identity of our own Saber of the Red. I believe her identity is Mordred." That caused Semiramis' eyebrow to shoot up, and made Shakespeare squeal in delight and stop writing.

"You're certain? I thought your abilities didn't apply to Saber?" Assassin asked.

That was true, one of her Noble Phantasms seemed to have the ability to prevent him from discerning her name or stats. He did have a few clues though, that she would be a Knight of the Round and that she would have an ability to hide her identity at all. The clue that tied it all together, however, was much simpler than any of that.

"When I delivered the note to Mr. Shishigou I got a glimpse of her unmasked for a second. Not long enough to discern anything, but long enough to see her face. And she looked exactly like Rider. Add on that she's a Knight of the Round Table and her ability to hide her identity and there's only one person who fits that bill. The son of King Arthur, Mordred."

"What a twist! That father and son who'd slain each other would appear again to fight once more! An early plot to add to your story, at the very least." The Servant seemed to realize something before becoming despondent. "But which story to write? The Tale of Arthuria or of the Great Grail War?"

Assassin was more focused on the matters at hand. "They'll never work together. The moment Mordred sees Arthur she'll attack her. An attack she'll think we planned, seeing as you've sent them both to the same town."

"On your advice." Shiro replied casually

"Yes, because I thought it would get the boy killed! Now we're going to lose two servants instead of gaining one!"

"So that was your plan. Get him killed and then hope his servant comes running back to us."

"She never would've joined us willingly." Semiramis almost pouted. "I've seen her type in royal courts. She's like a bodyguard in love with a charge above her station, desperate to keep him all to herself lest he be taken by another. She won't let anyone near him, not voluntarily. But if he dies, then that devotion can be used. She'll do anything to defeat the one who killed her Master. Offer her the ability to revive him on the Grail, and she'll willingly join us. Of course, none of that matters if one of our own 'allies' kills him!"

"There's still a better chance that one of the Black Masters kills him." Shiro pointed out in reply. "And he doesn't know that we know who his servant is, we couldn't have predicted that conflict."

"But your still sent him into it." Semiramis pointed out. "If you knew then why?"

"Hopefully history will repeat itself. Arthur slew Mordred once, I have no doubt she'll do it again. Shishigou is an experienced mercenary, and should triumph over Emiya. And then Rider will end him. The master still falls, and as you said the servant will come back to us. We also remove a potential complication in Shishigou" He didn't need Assassin to point out how desperate Rider had been. The look of desperation in Rider's eyes was one that he was intimately familiar with. He felt bad about exploiting it, but he wouldn't be telling any lie. He would let her revive her master, and then save them all.

There was a slight misgiving there though. Something about Emiya that didn't quite fit, for some reason when he'd walked in Shiro had almost expected to see a status screen hovering near the servant. There was something odd about him, and that worried Shiro. It was the same reason he'd chosen Arthur over Mordred; the more stable outcome was preferred. Shishigou's loss was sad, but ultimately it would just be another soul on his conscience. Not everyone could be saved, not by normal means.

"[Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.]" Shakespeare cut in. At Semiramis' glare he balked a little but went on. "Truly it is a worthy opening aside for the greatest story."

"Yes…your greatest story. Do try to keep out of too much trouble, Caster, it wouldn't do well for the story to end because of a complication you'd created."

"If you insist, my master." Shakespeare said sadly, before perking up. "It'll leave me with enough time to write this." He finished as he moved to the door, waving what looked like an outline. "A new tale of King Arthur."

"Your other tale won't be lacking either, there can be no greater battle for you than between the Seven Servents of Black and Red."

"I shall look forward to it then." He replied as he began to exit.

"Caster." Assassin cut in "What did you come in here for in the first place?"

"Ah, yes. Berserker has left to scout the Black camp."

"What!?" She shouted, but the Caster class Servant had already left. "I have no doubt he had something to do with that."

Shiro laughed quietly at that. "Would you mind finding Archer and asking her to follow and prevent him from starting things early? He seems to listen to her, more than to me at least."

"I can have my familiars find her and inform her. It'll only be a few more days before my Noble Phantasm is ready, shall we have them simply wait there?"

He considered that for a moment before nodding his agreement. "With Berserkers speed, it'll make it easier to recover Rider. And they'll keep some pressure on the Blacks, I doubt they have the servants to match either of them. Not without drawing in Red Saber or Rider."

"I'll see to it then, Master." She said with a smile as she exited the room.

Once she had left he couldn't help but sit for a moment. Despite some unexpected surprises things were mostly moving as he'd hoped. With any luck in a few days he'd have an undefeatable team of King Arthur, Karna, and Achilles, and with them, the means to accomplish his wish.

* * *

 **I own nothing.**

 **AN: I swear the Black Servants will show up at some point. Probably next chapter as other parts start moving, including parts with Ruler and a certain Homunculus. Everything has gone pretty much the same for them so far, and so they haven't been mentioned yet. Those parts are so important that I can't leave them out without damaging the story, so sorry if you've already read through it. I'll try to make it exciting though.**

 **On this chapter the Shirou and Saber parts were a little bittersweet, knowing how things ended for them in Heaven's Feel. Shiro Kotomine has a difficult voice to get, he's doing terrible things for good reasons. I also had to make a few assumptions about how the familars and his identification powers work together. The idea I went with is that it takes more time and effort if he's viewing a servant by familar, which is why he didn't do it at the beginning to Mordred when he sees her without her helmet early in the story. In the main story it backfires slightly, but he gets some help with identifying her here from Artoria. Shakespeare's just fun to write, finding grandiose ways to say almost everything. Finally, on a more technical note, Shirou with a u is Emiya, and Shiro is Kotomine, that's how it will always be within this story, I've found it's the easiest way to curb confusion with having two characters with the same name.**

 **With regard to Artoria, and questions on her. Artoria is still the same Saber Shirou always summons, just with different clothes and in a different class. I'll post a full stat sheet for her after this note, with notes on her NPs and stat changes. Achilles will get a shiny new sheet for his berserker class after next chapter.**

 **Update: so after looking at the reviews I realized I'd made two mistakes, and given the fact that chapters can get delayed I figured I would update this one. I forgot Sakura had used all her command seals, the line was meant to be a quick one showing how they cared about each other, I wasn't thinking about her command seal count. I've fixed the line so she now says Rider will go by Noble Phantasm. The error with Rhongomyniad can be put on power creep. I remembered an interview saying that Rhon and Excalibur were about even in power, then checked Artoria Lancer's page and saw it listed as A++ and went with it. I'm going to leave it with a lowered rank, and I've added the reason why down below. The next chapter will hopefully be out soon. See ya then.**

* * *

Artoria Pendragon, Knight-King of the Round Table

STR: B+

END: B

AGL: B++

MGI: B

LCK: A

NP: A++

NP:

Excalibur, The Sword of Promised Victory: A++

Rhongomyniad, The Spear that Shines to the Ends of the Earth: A++

Invisible Air: C

An impossible summon, under normal circumstances. The legend of 'King Arthur' is so tied to that of Excalibur that summoning her as anything other than Saber is normally almost impossible. If the Saber class was filled and a fragment of the Round Table was used it would summon a different knight who could fill that role. If you did find a catalyst linked to specifically to her, with that class filled it would pull one from another dimension with the necessary requirements. An Artoria who had used primarily Rhongomyniad as a Lancer or one who never took up the Sword of Selection that instead became a female knight as a Rider. No matter who appeared it would not be one who became King Arthur. As a result of Shirou's call specifically to her, her own state of mind, and the bond between them the summon has become possible though.

What has been summoned is still not 'King Arthur', nor is it the King who wished to save her kingdom. It is instead an Artoria who is devoted to acting as a Knight and protecting her Master. Her kingly goal of saving Britain is second to ensuring her Masters safety and victory. That that Master is Shirou has only heightened her resolve. Even her title has changed to reflect this, with the idea of being King only an afterthought, the word could easily be removed without changing much.

Artoria's stats have gone through many changes, despite seeming the same. They are slightly lower as Rider to start with, and while Shirou is stronger as a mage he cannot fully support her, he simply lacks the circuit count and quality to do so. He cannot pass her prana at the necessary rate to sustain combat at maximum level without leaving himself completely open. His improvement and her own slight fame boost in Europe have contributed to boosts in her stats above what he summoned her as in the Fifth Grail War, leaving her with mostly B class stats rather than Cs. When mounted on Dun Stallion she gains further boosts to Agility, and her strength increases along with it from the increased speed. As those increases would exist regardless of her masters ability, summoning Artoria in the Rider class is almost preferable for those with lower prana levels. As a Rider Artoria also has access to multiple Noble Phantasms, though she is limited in this state to what she had on The Hill: Excalibur, Rhongomyniad, and Invisible Air. Her horse, Dun Stallion, is always waiting and can be summoned with a thought from her.

 **Class Skills:**

Magic Resistance: C+

Artoria's magic resistance has dropped slightly in the Rider class, though not as far as it might seem. Her base value represents her passive resistance, and allows for nullification of spells of two bars or less. When using prana burst it is effectively slightly higher, as all attacks that hit her are disrupted by the outpouring of prana. She also seems to have gained a technique to temporarily release a massive amount of prana to form a shield, one that dissipates and disperses damage from any magecraft, though she dislikes the technique.

Riding: A+

A uselessly high rank in Riding. Artoria's riding skill is sufficient to ride phantasmal beasts and divine mounts, but as a knight she rides only her horse, rendering the skills high level almost pointless. Dun Stallion is her most trusted mount, and can be summoned when or wherever she wants though. She can also intuitively pilot any vehicle she encounters.

 **Personal Skills:**

Prana Burst: A

A skill that remains mostly unchanged. Dun Stallion is hardy enough to withstand enhancement from it, and Artoria is skilled enough to enhance him in order to make him even faster and stronger. She has also learned a higher cost variant, a type of Prana Flare that provides defense for a moment from most ranged attacks and some weaker melee ones.

Charisma: B

Instinct: A

 **Noble Phantasms:**

Invisible Air: C

A Noble Phantasm that can conceal a weapon in Wind. While she primarily uses it to conceal Excalibur she can also apply it to Rhongomyniad to hide its appearance, though it is less likely to be recognized on sight, as her identity is not as strongly tied to the lance. It can also be released in burst to attack opponents directly, launch Artoria at them in a high speed charge, or blow them away. It can be extended as a kind of shield to her mount, as well, though its offensive and defensive capabilities are greatly reduced the larger the area it has to cover.

Excalibur, The Sword of Promised Victory: A++

The greatest holy sword, a crystallization of the wishes of mankind. It is Artoria's primary and most familiar weapon. She keeps it hidden with Invisible Air when not releasing it, as any who see it know its name and hers. When its name is called it gathers and amplifies the users prana, before releasing in a burst that cannot be stopped or matched, save by a few of the most powerful Noble Phantasms. It can be considered one of the strongest Noble Phantasms, matched by only a select few others.

Rhongomyniad, The Spear that Shines to the Ends of the Earth: A++

The spear that is a shadow of the pillar holding the world in balance. In its current state its power is greatly weakened, as thirteen seals bind it to protect the wielder from its influence. Artoria's rejection of the spear and its influence mean thay she can't use its true power and its rank is reduced as a result. Using it for extended periods with it unsealed begins to warp the wield into ta Divine Spirit, the Goddess Rhongomyniad, eventually destroying the hosts personality and goals. In its sealed form it barely qualifies as a Noble Phantasm, only having the passive ability to ignore defenses, but when fully unsealed it would be a match for any of the greatest Noble Phantasms. The more seals that are released the stronger the lance grows, and when over half are released its true name and a glimpse of its true power can be seen. As it is a lance rather than a spear it performs better when Artoria is riding Dun Stallion, rather than on foot.


	4. Chapter 4: The Calm

Chapter 4

They would certainly make good time to Trifas, Shirou thought as he held onto Rider on the back of her horse.

They were currently dashing across the open plane between Sigisoara and Trifas, heading toward the later city at a breakneck pace. Rider had insisted that they travel by night, and on her horse, so as to avoid being seen and get there more quickly. A late-night storm over Sigisoara had delayed them one day, but it had cleared up by the next day and they had left shortly after it. They were staying away from the main roads, as they were sure to be monitored, and would later attempt to enter the city by stealth once they got close enough.

While Rider's plan certainly ensured his safety, it made no such guarantees about his comfort. Shirou was discovering that riding a horse was a distinctly uncomfortable affair, especially when you were moving at the speed they were. Shirou would have much rather preferred a car, but Rider did not seem in an arguing mood. It was the argument about where she would sleep all over again, only this time there was no alternative he could suggest.

So he was currently stuck on a horse. One moving much faster than he'd thought horses could, with all the discomfort that brought.

Rider was less concerned with comfort, and more focused on avoiding the battle she could feel was taking place about a mile away. She was following relatively close to the road as she didn't know where Trifas was, but was trying to avoid going directly down it. She charted their course by occasional views of the road, and by trusting that her instincts would get her there.

It would seem another Servant hadn't been so careful or confident, and was now clashing with one of the Servants of the Black as a result.

She could feel the waves of prana from the battle even from this far away, and while she was certain that she was a match for either of the servants she had no interest in drawing Shirou close to such a battle. Her instincts warned her that both of the Servants were incredibly dangerous, and she had no interest in engaging with them so early. It didn't even fall under their goal of scouting as the other Red Servant would be able to report back.

Though that did raise the question of what another Servant of the Red was doing out here. According to the priest there was only one Servant currently in Trifas, and he'd made no mention of sending any reinforcements. It seemed she and Shirou had been right not to trust him. It could have been the Saber already in Trifas, she supposed, but something told her that was wrong.

It was more than likely Lancer, Archer, or Assassin, sent to spy on her. Lancer or Archer more likely than Assassin, she hadn't got the same sense of raw power from Assassin that she was getting from the two Servants currently battling. The closest comparison she could make was to Gilgamesh or Heracles, either one of whom would fit in the Archer or Lancer class. A part of her hoped it wasn't either of them, she had no interest in dealing with Gilgamesh ever again, and while Heracles would be a worthy foe, she didn't want to have to fight him further down the line.

The priest mentioned their Lancer was strong, now that she thought about it, and she hadn't felt he was lying about that. A part of her wanted to veer closer to the road, to see if she could get a glimpse of the heroes fighting, to confirm her suspicions, but she quashed that quickly. Her first duty was to Shirou, not to engage in a pointless battle with other servants.

That was what had led to her failure last time, and that was something she had no intention of ever repeating again.

* * *

The fortress of Yggdmillenia was dark and somber looking from the outside, with imposing walls and an army of armed homunculi patrolling them. It was, however, much less imposing on the inside as those same homunculi worked to keep the castle clean and orderly. That most of the mages, to say nothing of the King, there would have refused to live in a castle kept in bad order was obvious. All of the rooms were kept clean and well lit, and the throne room where the King could regularly be found was kept especially well maintained.

Lancer, Archer, Rider and their respective masters were currently all gathered in that throne room watching a projection from an aerial familiar. The battle had ended last night with an overwhelming defeat for their scouts, but they were expendable, and they had gained some information about their enemy as a result. The assembled Servants and Masters were rewatching the projection to try and discern any more about the Servant as they waited for Gordes to return with Ruler.

"She truly is impressive, even for a Saber class servant." Celenike couldn't help but say. "Strength B+. Endurance A. Agility B. Prana B. Not a single stat other than luck under B. Add B rank riding and Magic Resistance and you really do see why it's called the strongest class."

"I'm more worried about the hidden parameters." Darnic replied. "With stats like that her Noble Phantasm is certain to be powerful, to say nothing of her skills."

Lancer may not have understood the exact nature of how servant stats worked but if Darnic was wary of this servant then he was more than willing to be cautious. Hidden information could often turn the tide of battle at a crucial moment, and it would do them no good if the Servant had a hidden class skill that gave them an advantage. It would do them no good to lose one of his captains in a way that could have easily been avoided had they known about it. He was distracted by his musings on the mysterious servant by a homunculus entering the room and delivering a message to him, bowing as he approached the throne before being waved up. He read it quickly before saying.

"Darnic. Switch to one of the familiars halfway along the forest path, the one to the Southwest."

Darnic, who had been watching intently since the homunculus' arrival, appeared surprised for a moment before nodding his agreement. It was the brusque tone he'd taken, Vlad suspected, Darnic was not used to having any he considered a superior and it showed in his ham-fisted attempts at flattery. Was that really what passed for words of fealty at the Clock Tower? If so the organization was even worse than Darnic had described.

Darnic's magic circuits glowed for a moment and the image changed to one of a wooded path under the pale moonlight. The forest was still for a moment, before a silver and blue blur flew by.

"A servant?" Celenike asked as Darnic continued switching familiars to try and keep up. The servant was moving far too fast for the familiars to capture a good image. The most they were able to make out was that the servant was mounted, and it also appeared to have its master riding with it, owing to the shock of red that accompanied it that did not seem to be a feature of the Servants armor.

"A Rider class then." Archer of Black said. "There's no point in trying to keep up. He'll have to slow up once they reach the city limits. I'd suggest watching there instead."

Darnic nodded again and switched to a view from a house on the outskirts of where the path would likely let them out. "My apologies, but even with reinforcement I still couldn't make out anything about the servant. Could either of you…?" He trailed off looking between Lancer and Archer.

Lancer was leaning forward now, focused on the image, but made no reply. Fortunately Archer was slightly more receptive. "No, the homunculi couldn't capture it quickly enough, we would need to be there in person to see anything. I suspect the alarm was triggered simply by the motion crossing one of their views."

"So that's my counterpart then?" Rider asked "She may be fast, but given that I can fly I have no doubt that I'm the better Rider!" he finished with a grin.

Archer looked like he was about to reply when the Servant reentered the image. It continued speeding forward, before stopping at the city limits. As they dismounted they were finally able to get a look at her and her master.

"That's a girl…right?" Fiore finally asked, putting a voice to the question most of the masters had. Ordinarily it would have been certain, even with the knightly armor, she could still only be either a girl or a very young boy. The major issue was their own Rider, who certainly confused things where gender was concerned. Astolfo was certainly a man, but you would be hard pressed to tell that from his appearance or at any distances.

The sideways glances all of the Masters were throwing Rider were broken as Archer said, "She looks like Saber."

"She does." Lancer replied.

"Mother and daughter, perhaps?" Fiore asked.

They contemplated that for a moment before Archer said, "I doubt it. There are few parent-child pairs famous enough to both be Heroic Spirits, and none of them were women. David and Solomon, Arthur and Mordred, and Lancelot and Galahad are the most prominent examples that come to mind. Perhaps one is a descendant of the other?"

"In the Third Holy Grail War Saber was summoned as two different aspects of himself." Darnic said, "One side was him as king, the other as a warrior. It was similar to how these two are, the king was dignified, the warrior wild. Their stats and skills are so similar that I'd be hard pressed to believe otherwise. Strength B+, Endurance B, Agility B++, Mana B, Luck A, Noble Phantasm C. Even the class skills would fit with Magic Resistance of C and Riding at A+. Any minor changes in Rank can be attributed to being summoned in a different class or having a different Master."

"And if the servant was hidden as a child that would explain why the skills are hidden on one but not the other." Lancer added.

"So the Saber would be her in her youth. While Rider would be her when she was older." Celenike summed up. "Either way she's clearly a knight of some kind. Rider she wouldn't be one of Charlemagne's paladins, would she?"

"Nope! I would've remembered someone like that. Besides she's got an air like when Charly himself would come around, she's definitely a royal of some kind."

"So someone of stature then." Darnic said, "Jeanne D'Arc, Boudica, and Hippolyta are the only women I can think of who fit that description and would have stats that are that high. There are problems with all of them, however. Maybe another of the Amazonian Queens would be a fit, or maybe one of our assumptions is wrong. We're guessing at too much." He paused for a moment before smiling and saying "At least her gender isn't in question anymore."

The Servant had dispelled her armor and changed back into normal clothes. Any confusion over her gender had been wiped away with that, as she had returned to wearing a blue skirt and buttoned shirt. Either she was indeed a she or he was very committed to his disguise. A homunculus was still following them as they tried to find lodgings, but they had returned the footage back to the moment when Rider of Red had dismounted and dismissed her horse.

"Should we send golems after them?" There's still an hour or two before the dawn, and we can get an idea of what they can do that way." Celenike asked.

Lancer was about to agree when Archer leaned forward slightly, smiling and raising his hand. "If you wouldn't mind, please allow me to engage her rather than the golems. There's a chance that they might scare her off instead and then we would learn nothing."

"You believe an engagement with you would reveal more than with the golems, Chiron?" Lancer asked.

"I do, your majesty. I trained many heroes during my life, and was able to see how they evolved and changed. No matter how they grew and certain fundaments of their styles remained the same, techniques they would fall back on when pressed. It will be no different with Rider and Saber if they are different versions of the same Servant. You, Saber, Rider and I could all press her enough to make her reveal herself, but I would still need to see her fight and there's no reason for the rest of you to go out and fight."

 _And plenty of reasons for us not to._ Lancer couldn't help but think. He would be outside the range of Kazikli Bey and an extremely valuable target, Rider was likely to blab and reveal their secrets, and Saber had a fatal weakness that might be exposed. Chiron had none of those and his identity was better hidden. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of the quality of captains he now had.

"Go forth then, Chiron, and discover the truth of our foe. Fiore, you shall accompany him to draw the master away, and kill him if possible." Chiron bowed in reply, while Fiore did too after the shock wore off.

"Do we know anything about the Master?" She said looking at the image of him. He seemed unremarkable, in contrast to the other Red Master who had visited the other night. He wore a plain black jacket over a white shirt with jeans. The only remarkable thing about him was his messy red hair, and even that was only in comparison to how plain he otherwise was.

"He doesn't match the description of the other mercenaries that were hired, so I can only assume he's the Tohsaka representative, Shirou Emiya." Darnic replied. Despite their break with the Association there were still plenty of mages willing to play both sides and give up information about the Associations decisions. It would cost them almost nothing to reveal the information, and after word had spread of their Servant and the Grail there had been more than enough people willing to give information to them.

"Emiya!?" Celenike almost shouted. She took a second to compose herself before she hissed "The Magus Killer? The infamous mercenary who vanished after the 4th Holy Grail War and was never seen again? That Emiya!"

"I'd thought you were too young to have been around when he was active?" Darnic asked. "But regardless, yes that same last name. Although according to my source he wasn't trained and they found no trace of the Emiya crest in his circuits after they examined him. By his and the Tohsaka girls account he was never trained by his father, and participated in the 5th War by accident. He apparently made only minor contributions to its resolution."

He saw the stress that had accumulated on Fiore release as he finished. The girl really could be far too trusting sometimes. That the Tohsaka girl would chose him anyway despite what she'd said about him having no training meant he was special in some way. With any luck Fiore would be able to push him hard enough to reveal what it was. He still needed her alive, as she commanded a powerful servant and was part of his plans further down the line and so he added, "Caules, Berserker, and a squad of homunculi will be standing by nearby incase anything goes wrong."

"Thank you, Grandfather." She said with an audible sigh of relief.

"There is one more irritant that must be dealt with before all of this, however." Lancer cut in. "The other servants, to the East. If we attack Rider now they may interfere, and I will not lose so capable a captain to a scouting mission." The two servants had arrived yesterday, and were currently waiting in the forest to the East of the castle. One of them was sending out waves of killing intent almost every hour, as though to bait them into attacking. The other had shot down every homunculus that had tried to get close before it could even see them, they'd only gotten a glimpse before the first one had been shot down, which was how they even knew there were two servants.

"Then we just need to drive off the Archer and capture the other." Roche said as he and Caster entered the room. "We have enough homunculi for it at this point."

"Caster. I had thought you would be working on your core, or hunting down the missing homunculus."

"It took God until the fourth day to create Adam. Perfection requires patience. The core needs time to stabilize, and the search for the missing part continues. My apprentice suggested that your strategy session might be fruitful."

That the servant had referred to the master as his apprentice was not surprising to any in Yggdmillenia, Roche had hunted down a relic of Avicebron specifically, and had immediately put himself under his Servant's tutelage. Given his Servant's history as a Master of Golem creation it was obvious that he would want to learn as much as possible from his Servant.

"Your certain you can capture this servant, you believe it's Berserker?" Darnic asked. They had hoped to draw out Berserker, as it was the only servant that they felt they had a reasonable chance of tricking into their trap.

"I do. The golem we sent with Gordes and Saber was able to get a glimpse of the enemy Servant before it engaged Saber. He was of the Lancer class. We've seen Saber, and you've been watching Rider. I doubt the enemy would send their Assassin or Caster that close to our walls, even with Archer as an escort. That leaves one class, and one most likely to charge headlong into a battle."

"So the Association also targeted Ruler. How interesting." Darnic said. "Either way this is a clear opportunity, we will meet their Berserker and Archer with ours. Let's see how powerful the Associations Servants truly are, and then crush them beneath our might."

"Agreed." He pause before standing and declaring "Let us begin the opening conflict of the Great Grail War. Go forth, my captains and bring victory for the Servants of the Black."

* * *

Astolfo smoothed out his clothes as he walked back from a meeting with his Master a few hours later.

Astolfo was really beginning to dislike his Master. His sessions with her were starting to go longer and she seemed less satisfied each time. He supposed it was a side effect of bottling up all of her emotions for so long, but did she really need to take it out on him?

He supposed he should have been worried about that, but she had no real way of hurting him and for now they were merely annoyances. So the part of them that irritated him was quickly forgotten along with any distaste for his master. Such was the nature of Astolfo, Rider of the Black faction.

He had more important things to worry about any way, like the Homunculus he'd decided to save. Speaking of which...

"Helloohoo?" He said entering Archer's room. Archer himself was out, but the Homunculus was up and trying to walk around. At least that was what Astolfo thought, as the homunculus was currently on the ground. He seemed to be attempting to push himself up, and wasn't succeeding at it very well. It seemed like he'd had about as much success with walking.

"You really shouldn't fall if you can't get back up you know." He said as he helped pick the homunculus up.

"Trying...to...walk." The homunculus said in his hoarse voice.

"Well in that case I'll show you! It easy! You just put one foot in front of the other, like this! See, soon you'll be walking cross the floor."

* * *

Caules was walking through the garden towards his servant again after having spent every hour since he'd been told about his role in the upcoming battle doing research. He'd looked over information about the terrain and her schematics, and trying to form a plan. He'd already met her once and ascertained the power of her Noble Phantasm, but now he had to go and order her into action. He'd tried to avoid it by studying even more, but the sun was setting now, and he couldn't put it off any longer.

She had moved slightly from where he'd seen her last, though she was still picking flowers in the garden. He could see a few piles of shredded flowers but it looked like she was also making a bouquet. He still wasn't quite sure how to approach his servant, so he just settled for how he had last time. It seemed to have gone pretty well then.

"He-Hey."

She actually turned to face him this time, which he took as an improvement, maybe they were making some headway in their Master Servant relationship.

"Uuuu?"

"We've been summoned to fight. Darnic wants us and Saber to engage with the two Servants in the forest. Archer will be backing us up from a far. Our main goal is to separate them, and drive Berserker toward Lancer and Rider."

Saber had been added to the plan late at Gordes insistence. He'd claimed it was to have another strong frontline fighter, but Caules knew it had more to do with Gordes wounded pride. His failed effort to recover Ruler clearly grated on him and Darnic had eventually acquiesced.

There was some strategic wisdom to it, the earlier clash with Lancer had revealed Saber's invulnerability to all of the Masters of both sides, and so they would no longer have the element of surprise with it. As their main goal this time was to drive off the Servants, although defeating them would also certainly be a benefit, having an invincible wall on their side was only likely to dishearten the enemy.

"Uu..." Berserker moaned, drawing Caules out of his thoughts on Saber's strategic merit and back to the information Berserker wanted.

"They think it's Berserker and Archer. At least we can get rid of that sense of dread, huh?" That was the one good thing about the first battle. Every hour or so there had been a pulse of killing intent that had rippled throughout the castle. The servants didn't seem too affected by it, nor did some of the masters, but for Caules it was a constant unpleasant reminder of the war.

"Uu." She said grabbing the makeshift bouquet and standing up. It seemed it had been bothering her too. It wasn't quite time to go yet, but it felt like a waste to disregard her determination, and so he set off with her anyway. He felt her pull on his shoulder, before handing him the bouquet. It was better than the single flower from last time, so he supposed she felt their relationship was improving too.

Either way he set off feeling a bit more confident.

* * *

Jeanne was not having much luck when it came to finding shelter for the night. She had tried two of the other three hotels, and be been rejected from both. They were both filled up with Magi, and this one was much the same. Likely the magi of Yggdmillenia locking the town down. It was a strategy she could approve of, and it was better than just killing visitors.

Even if it did mean she was going to be rejected again.

"I'm sorry, miss but we're all booked up."

"It's fine, do you have any idea where else I could stay?"

"You can try the church. They offer shelter to travelers."

"Of course." That should have been the first place she checked, it was the modern knowledge that had confused her. Churches had always provided rooms for travelling pilgrims, and inns had been for those of greater means. It still held true, even in this time period.

She headed out after thanking him and getting directions, and felt several other mages following her. They should have been able to tell she was a Servant, but the casual clothes seemed to be throwing them off.

They knew where she would be staying anyway, so there wasn't much point in trying to hide it. They weren't much of a threat to her, and would know to leave the agents of the Church alone. Her only concern as she made her way there was to avoid the Servant she could sense at the market. It was a Servant of the Red, and she was worried about another attack after last night. It was a battle she had no desire to fight, Karna had been a truly incredible hero.

She reached the church without issue, and was warmly received by a Sister Alma. She agreed to let her stay for the few days, though she did warn her that she'd need to share the attic with another couple. She agreed to put up a modesty sheet, but only after she'd extracted a promise that nothing untoward would happen between her and the couple, and to prevent the couple from doing anything inappropriate.

The attic was small, and made even smaller by the curtain she hung to divide the room. Two mattresses had been laid out already, though she could only barely make it out past another curtain to divide their area. Her section had a bed, which the other two seemed to have given up so that both had similar levels of comfort. It made her happy to know that there were still couples willing to sacrifice for each other.

She had been so distracted that she didn't notice that Alma had been talking while she finished hanging the sheet. "- its uncanny really. Well now that that's done I'll let you settle in. We'll be having dinner in a bit, right after the other two get back from the market, would you like to join us?"

If it would be in bit she couldn't see a reason to say no, while her eating would likely be erratic, she did still need food. A lack of it wouldn't kill her, but it would hurt Laeticia if she didn't and eventually weaken her as well.

"Certainly, though if its possible I'd like to pray for a bit first."

"Oh! Of course! That is what a church is there for after all."

"Thank you. I'll unpack and then head to the chapel, please call me when dinner is ready."

"Of course I will... Oh! I just realized I never got your name."

"Please, call me Jeanne."

"Jeanne. What a lovely name. Well I'll see you later then, Jeanne." Jeanne smiled and waved as the girl left the room before turning to unpack her belongings. She hadn't been able to bring much but she did have a change of clothes to replace her current dirty ones. Modern clothes were not meant for long journeys through the Romanian country side

Once she'd finished unpacking and changing she went down to the altar in the chapel, and kneeled down to pray.

She didn't know any formal prayers, as a peasant she'd never learned how to read or write beyond her name, but she still was certain to pray every day. For her it was as easy and necessary as breathing. By doing so she could remove herself from the world, the war, and any other distractions and devote herself solely to God.

She wasn't sure how long she prayed for, she tended to lose track of time while praying, but she was drawn out of her prayer by Alma's voice.

"Jeanne?"

It had been longer than she had thought. The sun had fallen quite a bit and it would seem the sister had finally come to get her, though she did look quite apologetic about it.

"I'm sorry for interrupting."

"Oh, no-I tend to lose track of time when I'm praying. Sometimes I need someone to tell me when to leave, I wouldn't want to accidentally starve myself." It had been Giles who had taken that role for the most part, he was as pious as she was, but he seemed to understand moderation and holding himself back better than she had, and so had often come to collect her from her prayers.

"It's a good thing I came to get you then. Come on dinners ready, and it looks delicious. I was surprised that the boyfriend cooked it, but it looks delicious!"

It was as they were leaving the chapel that Jeanne felt it. Another Servant and Master pair, here in the Church. She wondered who it was for a moment, before realizing they were headed straight for them. _The couple!_ She'd assumed they were innocent tourists, but the only time Trifas had ever had this many visitors was during the war. Of course there was a chance they would be a Master Servant pairing.

However, the panic faded away as she was overcome with a sense that they were not a threat. She had no doubt her Revelation would have warned her if they were. And so with the resolve to at least be friendly she opened the door to see her doppelganger staring back at her.

"See I told you that she looked like you! This is Shirou Emiya, and his girlfriend Irisviel von Einzbern."

It was uncanny how much their faces looked alike. The Servant, who she could now tell was King Arthur as a Rider class Servant, looked exactly like her. The only difference was in how they styled their hair. Their ages and body types further differentiated them, but looking from the shoulders up they were mirror images of each other.

"I see. How nice to meet both of you." She said with a genuine smile and warmth. The smile was returned by the red-haired man who was setting the table, but the Rider who looked so similar to her showed no change in her guarded demeanor.

"Come and sit both of you. Now then let's say grace and then we can eat."

The meal was surprisingly pleasant after that. Some of the tension seemed to leave Rider after she began to eat, and her Master seemed pleasant enough. He and Alma were able to keep conversation going easily and made dinner a much more joyful affair than she'd first expected.

It was after dinner, when Alma encouraged them to go up to the attic, after shutting down Shirou's attempt to help clean up, that the tension undeniably returned. They were at least able to contain it until they made into the attic, but after they had Rider turned to her with a cold look and asked "What servant are you, and from what faction?"

"I am Jeanne D'Arc, Servant Ruler. I have no faction, and am an arbiter of this War, King Arthur."

Jeanne could sense Rider's surprise, though she didn't let it show on her face. Her only reply was to ask "Then you will remain neutral throughout this war, you have no intent of targeting Shirou or I?"

"I will neither harm nor help you. My only goal is to ensure that The Great Grail War completes smoothly. Though we may be together I will offer you no aid in your battles with the Black Faction."

"I see." She said before moving toward their half of the room and beginning to pack her things.

"Sa-Rider what are you doing?" Her master asked incredulously.

"Packing. We cannot remain with another Servant like this."

It hurt to be distrusted, but she understood it on some level. Staying with another Servant, especially one targeted by her own side could be very dangerous. She had no Master and didn't have to be concerned about one, but if she had had a Master she was certain she wouldn't want any Servants anywhere near them.

"She just said she was harmless! Besides what are we going to tell Alma? I'm sorry we don't like our new roommate so we're leaving? We said it would be fine earlier. And where would we go, every hotel was full of enemy mages?"

They stared each other down, and for a moment Jeanne thought Rider might suggest going back and fighting their way into a hotel, but she relented with a sigh. "If you're sure that this is the right call I'll accept it. You will not be alone with her at any time, however."

"It's fine. We'll be out most times anyway." He said with a yawn. "I'm going to get a little sleep before nighttime, you should too."

"I will." She said. Though after she was certain her Master had fallen asleep she got up back up and sat facing Ruler as she did Laeticia's homework. Despite the glare that was continuously sent her way Ruler couldn't help but think that Rider wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

"Still nothing?" Mordred asked in an increasingly irritated voice asked for what Shishigou felt was the millionth time. Yggdmillenia hadn't attacked them when they'd gone out walking tonight, and there was no sign of anything else happening, so they'd returned to the crypt. Kairi had thought it might be part of larger plan on the priest's part, and had mentioned as much to his Servant.

That was a choice he was now regretting. Mordred had apparently taken it as a fact, and was bothering him every 15 minutes or so as he continued to work on the Hydra he'd obtained.

There was really nothing else to do but sigh and say "I don't think he's going to send anything tonight. It's probably best to just go to sleep for now and try again tomorrow night."

"Are you going to sleep?"

He almost said that he was going to stay awake and work on the daggers, before realizing she'd also likely stay up and keep questioning and bothering him the whole time. There was no point in tiring both of them out pointless and creating animosity. Especially with the Knight of Treachery, a bad relationship there could be fatal. "Yeah, there's no point to staying up if nothing's going on, it'll just burn energy."

"Alright. Don't worry Master, we'll find an enemy to get rid of tomorrow, this war can't stay boring forever." She said with a smile as she rolled over. Even Kairi couldn't help but smile at his servant's confidence, it was refreshing in a way. It had been a long time since he'd been with someone like that.

She was right though, the fighting would start soon, and they would doubtless come out on top.

* * *

Jeanne stood in the center of the church, observing the sphere of water in the shape of Trifas before her. It was one of the benefits of being the Ruler of the Holy Grail War, she could locate any Servant, at any range. She could only make out two servants in the town itself, the Rider above her, and another Servant of Red who was underground.

She wasn't concerned about Rider coming down, the Servant had been glued to her Master's side since he had fallen asleep. She also seemed to have no interest in waking him up now that night had fallen, although Jeanne couldn't really blame him, jetlag was rather unpleasant, and she hadn't come half as far as he had. If it was her choice she'd rather be asleep, but there was no such luck for the wars overseer.

Though that King Arthur was a girl who looked exactly like her was surprising, her True Name Discernment made her completely sure of that. It didn't stop it from surprising her though. But that was enough ruminating on her current roommates, there were other Servants in this war after all.

She expanded her search area, and was able to locate the 6 Servants of Black in the nearby castle, right where she thought they'd be. It seemed Rider and the other Red Servant were to act as scouts. But then why send two Servants? To support each other in case it turned into a fight?

"The forest...?" It wasn't a thought she had had, or a flash of Instinct, but a sudden change in what she knew. She could feel with certainty that there was something important there. Her search area moved as she said it and she found two more Red Servants to the East of the Castle.

So Rider wasn't a lone scout. There were too many Servants to be a simple scouting party, but not enough for an all out assault. So then what were they doing here...? And what was going on with the Red Faction in general?

Lancer had attacked her last night, and she'd assumed the Red Faction was hostile as a result. But Rider didn't seem to bear any kind of grudge, and had no interest in attacking her. Saber had also been strangely quiet and stationary, they'd gone on a few rounds earlier, but only once night had fallen, and not in any kind of search pattern. Were there internal divisions in the Red Faction, or was she just being lulled into a false sense of security?

She couldn't help but sigh, Giles had always been better at military matters than her, and it didn't seem like she would be receiving any revelations to help tonight. The questin of the Servants of the Red would have to wait for another night. The Servants of the Black were moving against the two in the forest, in what was likely to be the first real battle of the war. For the moment the war was functioning as it should, the Servants of Red and Black clashing. Any problems beyond that could wait for another day, in their mind and hers.

All she could do was her duty as a Ruler, and observe the Great Grail War. Shed walked outside before jumping to the tallest spire on the church and watched as the battle began in the forests near the Castle Yggdmillenia.

* * *

 **Fun Fact: Astolfo's reference to Charlemagne was actually written before he was announced as a Servant in the new Extella game, it's just a happy coincidence that this chapters release coincides with that announcement. Which brings us to how long it took me to write this chapter, a lenght of time know to most as: too damn long. Most of the reason this chapter took so long was because I wanted to get the next chapter of The Crossing out, and didn't just want to keep pumping out chapters of this. It didn't feel fair to readers of my other fic. Unfortunately, that chapter ended up taking much longer than it should have, and so this chapter got delayed.**

 **Fortunately, however, the next chapter should be coming out much more quickly, mostly because it's almost already done. I wrote most of it when I was writing this chapter, thinking it was just one more major scene and a few wrap up scenes. That chapter is now currently longer than this one, and it isn't even finished yet. I decided to split them up to allow for the chapter to have a little room to breathe, and because it was getting disjointed. There was just too much happening to properly cover in one chapter. It's about 80% done, and after that all it will need is a proof read and then it can be uploaded. It'll hopefully be up sometime this weekend or early next week.**

 **Moving on from the chronicle of my eternal schedule slippage there are a few things to say about the chapter. Namely that I'm not completely happy with how this chapter is written, I kept switching between view points and like how the novel is written, but it isn't a style I particularly like. I prefer writing how one character views a scene, like with Jeanne's encounter with Shirou and Rider, rather than switching between multiple viewpoints like in the Yggdmillenia scene. I'll discuss it more in the next chapter, along with a general note about a change I made with how communication works.**

 **We also get to see more of Rider's new over protective side. She'll still yield to Shirou when she has to, but she'll take actions without him knowing to protect him when she thinks he needs it. It isn't exactly good for their relationship, but Rider is less concerned that and more with keeping Shirou alive. She knows there's something wrong with this plan to send them to, and so she's more on even more on guard than she normally would be.**

 **There are a few small scenes to catch us up on what everyone is doing, as some of the less plot relevant characters don't have much to do. Unless an event is major or has been majorly changed I don't see much reason to retread the same ground. I'm guessing anyone reading this has watched or read Apocrypha, and some things are too similar to be worth covering here. Mordred, Kairi, Karna, and some of the Black Faction have this the worst right now, as Shirou's entry to the story hasn't had much of an effect on what they're doing. I'm trying to include some extra scenes to draw them in, and they'll definitely be involved later, but for now they just don't have much to do.**

 **Well, that's really all I have to say about this Chapter. I'll have more next chapter, along with a Servant Stat sheet. The first real battle between the Red and Black factions is up next, along with the end of the First Volume.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Storm

Chapter 5

"They're coming." He said, and Atalanta didn't even need to look to see the grin Achilles was wearing.

"They're sitting on the wall. I'd hardly call that coming." She replied.

"That's how it starts. First on the wall, then through the gate, and finally right at us. It was the same at Troy and every other battlefield. What do you see?"

She couldn't argue, however much she might disagree, he'd seen more battlefields than she had. She had fought a fair number of battles, but she didn't have as much experience in combat or war as him. They might have both been Greek heroes, but they'd lived vastly different lives. Despite that she'd been tasked with preventing him from going wild, and while she'd managed to stop that, she hadn't been able to prevent him from spending the last few days trying to bait them out. Apparently, he'd finally succeeded.

"Four just lept down. No weapons so I can't be sure of their class. A few are remaining on the walls, but I can't tell Servant from Master. They've also sent a force of homunculi out the gate, around 100, I can shoot them down from here."

"No. Let them come. It won't save them."

She felt a sudden chill unrelated to Berserker's bloodlust, though that was certainly enough to put her on guard, pass over her, and knew that someone else was scanning the forest. "Enemy Archer's on the walls, looking for us. You've got more experience at war than me, what do you suggest?"

He stopped to think for a minute before growling and saying "Make them come to us. The farther away they are the harder it'll be for that Archer to hit us. When they get close enough I'll attack them, you stay back and provide support."

She could tell it wasn't what he wanted to do. He most likely wanted to rush right at them and engage them now, but at least some part of him seemed to be inclined to thinking and he hadn't. It seemed his unique form of Mad Enhancement was good for something.

Her eyes were drawn back to the trees in front of her by their rustling. She focused, and could vaguely make out three figures approaching. "They're almost here, I'm going to withdraw and attack them from further back."

She bounded off before he could say anything back, and after a few moments he couldn't even see where she was. He could vaguely make out something moving away from him, but not exactly where she was. She truly was an expert huntress.

It was a relief to see another Greek hero too. The rest of his teammates were either too strange or too suspicious for him to form any real bonds with them. Atalanta was similar enough to him terms of mentality and origin that he could see her as a true comrade.

He was distracted from his musings by the arrival of the three below him. A serious looking knight wielding a sword, an angry woman with what seemed to be a bludgeon, and a small girl knight with an oversized lance.

"Let me guess: Saber, Berserker, and Rider?" he said casually. They were almost certain that Lancer was Vlad III and none of the servants before him looked anywhere near threatening enough to be him. They also wouldn't risk a Caster or Assassin in direct combat, and according to Atalanta Archer was likely on the castle wall. Which left only three classes the servants before him could be.1

Saber nodded in response, and Berserker made what he assumed was a noise of affirmation, while Rider said "Yup! How'd you know?"

"Secret. And those aren't something you're supposed to share on the battlefield. Speaking of secrets is this all of you? If you want time I can let you go back and get the rest."

That he thought they would need all of them went unspoken. It seemed to irritate Berserker and Saber, though, as the two of them immediately took more offensive stances. Rider didn't seem bothered by it though replying "Kind of full of yourself aren't you?"

Berserkers only reply was a feral grin before he launched his first strike at Saber.

The Servant hadn't expected the attack to come with such speed, Berserker could tell that much. He was able to get his blade up, more out of instinct than any actual plan, in an imperfect parry that deflected Berserker's charge but prevented him from countering it. Fortunately for Saber there were two other servants who had no such handicap and had immediately followed up with their attacks.

He narrowly dodged the club the other Berserker swung and the lance Rider had stabbed at him with, and lashed out at the attacking Rider with a kick that sent the servant flying through several trees.

Saber had taken the moment to transition into a overhead swing, one that Berserker let slide harmlessly off his shoulder before returning a thrust that did the same off Saber's side.

That wasn't what he'd been expecting. His strength combined with his spears weight should have pierced almost any armor. Which meant that armor was a Noble Phantasm, or that there was something special about the Servant himself. The glowing glyph on Saber's chest lead him to believe it was the later, but it never hurt to be sure.

He leapt back to disengage, only to have to block as the enemy Berserker swung that giant mace at him again. He could see the surprise in her eyes that she hadn't crushed him, and before she could react he slammed the butt of his spear into her chest and launch her back. It wasn't out of mercy that he'd used the back of the spear, he hadn't been able to block properly and had been out of position to counter. It didn't look like she'd be rejoining the fight anytime soon though, she'd doubled over and seemed to be winded. Didn't matter how strong you were if a blow caught you wrong, it was impossible to fight if you couldn't get air. He started to turn back to Saber as he said

"Now then, it's –" He was cut off by his sudden need to dodge again. Was he doomed to get perpetually attacked while his guard was down? Saber had taken the moment he'd used to deal with Berserker of Black to close the distance and attack.

He came at Rider with short, chopping blows that were hard to deflect with his spear. Whoever this Saber was, he was no amateur at fighting spearmen. He'd closed the distance to where Berserker's spear couldn't get up to full speed and power, and was actively resisting Berserker's best efforts to create the necessary distance for that. He was learning about Saber as they fought, however. The Servant's style was more like a common soldier's than Achilles' own heroic style. Full of short, harsh cuts aimed to dismember and weaken a foe, rather than simply targeting the opponent's vitals.

It would have been effective against another foe, but to Achilles it was just boring. Saber was certainly a master of his style, but it lacked any of the sophistication he'd been hoping for in a battle with other heroes. Which meant it was time to stop playing around. Saber lacked the attribute necessary to hurt him, Berserker already knew that, so rather than countering he planted himself let the next blow Saber launched crash into his side, and returned it with a thrust with all of his might that sent Saber flying back, but ultimately failed to wound the Servant.

That confirmed it then, he couldn't hurt Saber. The Servant had a type of protection similar to his own.

He leaned on his spear as Saber recovered and couldn't help but sigh "Well this won't get us anywhere."

Saber remained silent in the face of his statement and so Berserker continued "You're a surly one. That one might be weak but at least he can be bothered to talk." He said gesturing to the recently returned Rider of Black. He ignored the angry "Hey!" the servant sent back in protest as he continued. "People who forget to be happy here forget how to in Elysium you know. You should work to correct that…"

Saber's only reply was stony silence and a deepening of his frown that Berserker took as disagreement. It didn't matter. He'd seen dozens of serious fools like Saber before, and it hadn't made them any stronger in the end. All it had done was give him a laugh at how they'd lived their lives, as though by trading away their joy they'd get some reward for it, only to die just the same in the end. Just like this one would.

"…before you die, you know?" He finished as the arrow flew past him at what the boom following it informed him was slightly over the speed of sound. It hit Saber dead on, and the look of shock on his face was more than worth it. The fool flew back through half a dozen trees and into a clearing, though Berserker doubted he was actually injured, before falling to the ground stunned. Berserker had to work to prevent himself from laughing, but couldn't hide the grin that came to his face as he stalked toward the downed Servant.

Berserker watched as Rider and Berserker of Black moved to guard their downed comrade. He stopped facing them, and asked with the same grin "How long do think it'll take _Melas_ over there to recover? Ten seconds? Twenty? Do you think it'll be enough time to get both of you, or just one?"

They both tensed up, and Berserker made his decision. The enemy Berserker was less skilled than the Rider, she wouldn't be able to block his spear, and even if she had he doubted she had the speed to react. He could take her out in an instant before turning to finish the Rider. Two servants in one night wouldn't be too bad.

The second he took to make his decision cost him any chance of attacking, however, as his attention was immediately drawn to the glowing green light from where Saber had fallen earlier. He turned to see the Servant preparing his Noble Phantasm and didn't even try to hide his laughter this time.

Saber couldn't hurt him and judging by the grimace on the Servant's face he knew it too. Which meant his idiot of a master had ordered him to against Saber's better judgement. He kept on laughing as Saber began to call the Noble Phantasm name.

* * *

Vlad raced toward the battlefield, hoping he wasn't too late.

He'd been keeping pace with homunculi even though he was on the golem horse Caster had created for him, focusing on expanding Kazikli Bey as they advanced toward the enemy servants. The battle was occurring at the edges of the territory he'd claimed so far, as was the plan. Earlier they'd "accidentally" revealed the limits of his territory to the Servant's in the forest when they'd approached. Since then he'd worked to expand his territory in that direction and it now encompassed where the battle was taking place, laying the beginning of their trap.

It was to be their ultimate advantage once he made it to the field. The homunculi would jump the Berserker, while he impaled him with the spears he wouldn't see coming from the ground. The only downside was that he needed to be close to do it, his Noble Phantasm's prana cost rose exponentially the farther away Vlad was and he couldn't accurately aim it without line of sight. He could put it in a general area certainly, but he couldn't aim with any accuracy. There was just as large a chance that he blew everything if he tried to attack the enemy from this range.

He'd left the homunculi behind in his haste, but he could still make out the white dots that indicated they were following him. They still had a chance if they could make it on time. Vlad sent a prayer to the Lord as the light changed from a brilliant green to shades of dark blue and orange, like a sunset in the middle of the night.

The attack wouldn't work, and worse it would reveal Saber's identity. Chiron had warned his Master of Berserker's invulnerability a moment before Saber had invoked his Noble Phantasm, and Darnic had run off a moment later to stop Gordes before it was too late. Saber seemed to be trying to hold out, but not even he could ignore a command seal for long. Lancer wished there had been time for him to learn the enemy Berserker's name, but with Darnic gone he could no longer communicate with Archer through their link. He was effectively moving blind. Archer would still be able to relay information to Berserker and Rider though, who's masters also remained on the wall, and he had no doubt that Archer would take full advantage of that. It was just a matter of Darnic reaching Gordes in time. Lancer sent another prayer, even though he didn't exactly like praying like this, one did not pray only for what one needed after all. It seemed his prayer was answered as he felt a rush of rage from Darnic a moment later.

He sent a prayer of thanks as the light faded, and raced on.

* * *

Fran knew they were in a bad position. Saber's Noble Phantasm had been stopped, and even through her Mad Enhancement Berserker knew that was a good thing. Saber's Noble Phantasm was a secret for a reason, and revealing it pointlessly wouldn't help, no matter what Saber's Master thought. She was happy she didn't have that one as her Master.

Unfortunately, Saber had returned to spiritual form, leaving Rider and herself to fend for themselves against Berserker and Archer. Lancer would be there shortly according to her master, but they would still need to hold out until he arrived. Achilles was a hero far beyond the two of them, as much as she hated to admit it. She lacked what was necessary to harm him, not that she was sure she'd be able to win even if she had been able to hurt him. Achilles was a hero who didn't need Mad Enhancement to fight, and he didn't seem to suffer any effects from it either.

She hated Berserker of Red. She had to have Mad Enhancement to be able to fight against him at all, and had to suffer from its effects for even her small stat boosts. Forming words was hard, and her mind seemed to go slower when she thought about anything not related to combat or anger. Despite her Master's kindness and skill at communicating with her she still wanted to be able to talk to him. Being a Berserker made her feel like she had at her lowest, angry and hateful at everything, and she hated that. And she hated the other Berserker for not having to suffer from it.

He turned to her with that infuriating grin and said something she was sure was condescending. She couldn't hear over the anger thrumming through her head. She readied her **Blasted Tree of Crucifixion** , she would detonate it at full power, the explosion might hit Berserker in a weak point or do some damage that a sword couldn't. She'd be dead either way if she just waited for him to attack.

 _Fran, when Archer attacks Berserker run past him and go after Archer. Don't stop, even if she attacks you._

Her anger melted away partially as her Master, Caules, voice ran through her head. At least enough for her to recognize what he said and react to it. She sent a feeling of approval a moment later, it was easier than thinking out the full thought, and grinned as an arrow appeared in Berserker of the Red's shoulder.

She took a level of glee she knew she shouldn't have from the shocked look on his face as she rocketed past him, using her Galvanism to speed her charge. She still remembered where the arrow from earlier had been shot from, and ran toward it. She was rewarded a moment later as she got a glimpse of the enemy Archer in the trees. Her green and black dress and hair allowed her to blend in, but there was no missing the reflection of the full moon in her savage eyes, or the void that was her bow amongst the dark blue and greens of the night.

She watched as Archer of Red knocked an arrow and aimed at her. She didn't slow a bit but she did divert some of the prana she was holding into electricity in her mace. Archer fired, and she prepared to release the electricity to destroy it or disrupt its flight, only to watch as the arrow was shot out of the air by another arrow from behind her. She could see the shock, followed quickly by anger, as the enemy Archer realized what had happened. She clamped down on it a second later and almost before Berserker could react three more arrows had been knocked and loosed. Berserker swatted the one aimed at her head away, and simply ignored the other two. No systems were seriously compromised, and she shut down the pain receptors as soon as she felt the arrows pierce her chest and leg.

She had almost gotten close enough to attack when Archer of the Red shot passed her, headed toward where they'd been fighting. Berserker tried to turn, but she'd been going at full speed. Simply reversing her momentum wasn't an option either, with the arrow near her knee it was likely she'd damage something if she tried to pivot on it. She slowed down as quickly as she could without breaking anything and charged after Archer of the Red.

* * *

Astolfo knew something was deeply wrong with the enemy Berserker, and given that he was saying that, he knew that meant something.

No enemy should look like that as he was repeatedly pinned down and shot with arrows from the castle. Chir-, no Archer truly was amazing. Berserker had been so strong Astolfo hadn't quite known how to approach him. He couldn't reveal his Noble Phantasm too early, as they needed it when Vlad arrived, but he wasn't as skilled with his sword. Maybe he could have tried to hit him with the book?

Astolfo was drawn out of his musings by Berserker's insane laughter. _He's having way too much fun with this,_ he couldn't help but think. But then Berserker of Black had always looked like he'd been having fun, even when he'd been pressed by Saber. Fran could really stand to take some lessons from him. His concerns didn't matter though, he thought as he let them drift away, they'd be attacking as soon as Vlad arrived.

Which he obligingly did a moment later, dashing out of the forest on his horse. Despite what Astolfo assumed was the rush he'd been in to get here the Servant barely looked disturbed. He looked at Astolfo and nodded before declaring. "Berserker."

The Servant turned to face Vlad and Astoflo, and Archer politely stopped shooting at Berserker to allow him to answer Vlad's challenge. Berserker looked at the King before saying "So you're the Lancer I've been hearing so much about, Dracula right?"

Berserker of the Red should not have done that, Astolfo knew. Even under the full moon and through his Evaporation of Sanity he still knew not to call Vlad Dracula. He very much did not like that name, though if Astolfo had gone down in history as a monster under a different name he didn't image he'd like it very much either. Fortunately, he was much too cute for that to happen anyway.

Vlad did not look cute at the moment, his demeanor hadn't changed much, but his eyes seemed narrower and Astolfo could see the rage behind them at being called that name. Vlad raised his arm and said only two words in reply.

 _ **Kazikli Bey.**_

Spikes erupted from the ground. Berserker was somehow able to dodge them, leaping in the air to avoid impalement. Fortunately, that left him vulnerable to Astolfo's lance. He shot up like a lightning bolt, headed right at the enemy Servant. At the last moment Berserker somehow managed to dodge, though the movement seemed almost inhuman, and brought his spear around to slam Astolfo into the ground. Again. At least he'd hit him on the side this time rather than the stomach.

Before Astolfo could rise for round three, he saw a mass of white shapes jump at the landing Berserker, that he assumed were the homunculi they'd brought with them. Vlad was ready, and Astolfo could see the spikes forming in the ground to rise up and impale, or at least impede, the Servant.

What he hadn't expected was the midnight blue arrow that sprouted from Vlad's outstreached hand as he raised it to block its target, his head. He also watched as another arrow shot down one Chiron had fired that was aimed at the enemy Berserker. It seemed that the enemy Archer had rejoined the fight. He hoped that didn't mean anything had happened to Fran.

A moment to land was all Berserker needed. He set himself and stepped at the charging homunculi.

 _No!_ was all he could think as Rider cut them down mercilessly. They might not have been made the same way, but as the Homunculus he'd rescued showed, they were still people.

Any regard Astolfo had had for Berserker faded as he cut through the homunculi. They might as well have not even been there, for all it slowed Berserker. He'd crossed through them in under a second, but at least a third of them fell to the ground in pieces from his charge. Berserker's orange shirt and green hair were splashed with blood from the damage he'd wrought, and the homunculi froze as he turned and smiled at them again.

Even if was Achilles, as his Master had told him, what kind of hero would charge through a crowd that couldn't fight back like that when there were other targets who could? Targeting the weakest point wasn't knightly at all, and certainly not anything fitting of a hero.

Astolfo was already starting to charge at Berserker. He would not make another pass through the homunculi, Astolfo swore that on his name as a Paladin of Charlemange.

It never came to that, however, as the enemy Archer called out "We need to retreat! We've got enough information!" _It isn't worth our lives_ went unspoken but understood. It seemed she no longer liked their odds. The enemy Berserker looked like he wanted to fight longer but clicked his tongue and shot off without saying anything a moment later. In response the entire forest around them blossomed in spikes from Vlad's Noble Phantasm, but he didn't seem to have hit anything and they heard nothing more from either Servant of the Red. Fran came in a moment later shouting with rage, but quieted down when she saw that only the Servants of Black were still around. She was still seething though, he could see that in her eyes.

All of them were in a way. The Berserker and Archer had almost made fools of them, they'd lost thirty homunculi, and gained nothing but the knowledge of Berserker's identity, something they could have gotten from Chiron anyway. They may not have been his homunculus, but they still reminded Astoflo of the one in his room, and he wouldn't let Berserker get away with treating them like they were nothing. The same went for all the servant's he'd belittled during the battle.

Thinking on his homunculus, now might be the perfect time to smuggle him out. Everyone would be distracted from the battle and there was bound to be some confusion with all the homunculi lost tonight. There deaths were still terrible, but hopefully he could get some good out of them.

Astolfo excused himself from the scene, hoping he could get at least something good out of tonight.

* * *

Nothing good had come out of tonight, Darnic thought. Their servants had been roundly beaten by a Berserker that could apparently talk and think, they hadn't captured the Berserker like they'd planned to, and Gordes Musik Yggdmillenia had managed to waste two command seals on their most powerful servant.

The fool sat before him with his head down in shame, as it should be. Darnic had thought the mage would do better, being from a respected family and having quality magic circuits, but he'd forgotten that a good mage didn't always have good sense. A lesson he'd seen play out multiple times in the past century, but never more clearly than tonight.

Two command seals! And it was still a better trade than having Saber's identity discovered. The servant himself had reported that he didn't think that his identity had been discovered, but it never hurt to be careful. He would need to post a guard on Saber, one to watch his back at all times. Of the Servants available only Archer and Rider were viable choices. Lancer, Caster, and Berserker weren't suited the task and Assassin had yet to appear. They'd need Archer to command and train troops so he was out. Which meant leaving the protection of their most important Servant in the hands of their most flakey.

Lovely.

Darnic was interrupted by the arrival of Roche Frain Yggdmillenia, the Master of Caster. The young boy seemed to be out of breath having run here.

"Master…said…to tell you…. Riders...escaping with the homunculus." He panted out.

Darnic had to pause for a moment to make sure he'd heard that right. That the boy would call his Servant Master wasn't strange, as Roche had basically apprenticed himself to his Servant as soon as he'd summoned it. Avicebron was a Master at making golems and the entire focus of Roche's families line of magecraft lay in golem construction, that their relationship would be inverted only made sense in a way.

That Rider would take an escaped homunculus was the insane part. What would have compelled the Servant to do such a thing. Had his Evaporation of Sanity affected him that badly?

"Is there anything significant about this homunculus?" Darnic asked after a pause. He had no interest in dealing with a minor problem involving homunculi tonight if he didn't have to.

"Yeah. He thinks it can function as the core."

Darnic sighed. That did make the homunculus rather important. Unfortunately, he didn't feel like doing anything to sort out the problem. There was only so much he could take in one night. He did need to act, however. Half of their Servants were still returning to the castle, the only ones remaining were Archer, Caster and Saber. Archer had other priorities and Caster clearly had no interest in collecting it himself or he wouldn't have sent Roche. Which left only one person.

"Gordes, take Saber recover the homunculus. And do try not to mess up this time, we need all of the participants alive."

Gordes glared at him clearly seething at the insult and at having been given a task he considered below his level. Darnic disagreed. Right now Gordes level was at incompetent child, and Darnic would treat him like one until he proved otherwise. Darnic glared back and Gordes backed down. He gestured for Saber to follow and stormed out of the room. Roche left in a much better mood a few moments later, after giving Darnic a casual bow.

Darnic went for something for his aching head, he somehow doubted he would get much relief in the long term though, his subordinates were proving far more inept than he'd thought they'd be. He couldn't help but wonder if this was this how Vlad had felt defending his kingdom.

* * *

Astolfo's plan was going even better than he'd thought it would. They'd made it out of the castle safely, though not undetected. It would still take a while for Caster to send any kind of force that could actually impede Astolfo, and he had no interest in waiting around long enough to allow him to form one. His book had gotten them out of the castle and they were currently going down a mountain trail.

The homunculus might have been a little wobbly, but that was to be expected, he hadn't been walking for very long. Or doing anything for very long, really. It didn't matter, all Astolfo needed to do was get the homunculus to a town, and then everything would be fine. If he couldn't walk all the way than Astolfo would simply carry him. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to want to be carried, something he suspected was a side effect of leaving him alone with Chiron for too long.

He was about to ask again if the homunculus needed to be carried when he ran right into his back a moment later. The reason for it became obvious a moment later when leaned around the homunculus. Saber and his master were standing in front of them, blocking the path. Astolfo stepped in front of the homunculus as Gordes started to walk forward, Saber following dutifully behind.

He couldn't help but sigh "Are you sure you're not keeping a secret or two from me? You're not a Servant or something are you?" The homunculus shook his head in his usual adorably serious way, and Astolfo turned back to face Saber and his Master. It didn't seem they'd appreciated the joke much.

He could hear the annoyance in Gordes voice as he said "We cannot allow that homunculus to escape. Rider, remove yourself."

"Nope." He replied without even bothering to consider it.

That didn't seem to do anything for Gordes temper. He was trying to hide it, but Astolfo could still see the man gnashing his teeth. "Saber, restrain Rider. You can do that much, can't you?"

"Wha-" was all Astolfo managed to get out before Saber pulled him away from the Homunculus and slammed him into a tree. Gordes rushed over and grabbed the homunculus roughly by the arm, which seemed to sap what little strength the homunculus had left, and he collapsed on the ground.

Gordes cursed at the fallen form of the Homunculus, muttering something about how the task was beneath him, as he reached down to grab him again. As he hauled the homunculus to his feet he spoke, as though it would somehow convince the homunculus, "You have troubled me enough… Caster is going to grind you down and use you for a golem. You should be thankful to him! He'll turn that frail body of yours into one of stone."

It wasn't that the homunculus was convinced, but that he was simply tired. Even at a distance and with Saber in his way he could see that. It didn't mean it was a reason to give up though. Even if you were tired it didn't mean you stopped fighting, it just meant that you had to fight even harder.

"You fool! What are your thinking?! Don't hesitate! Don't give up! You want to live, don't you? You said you don't want to die! So keep trying until your last breath! You have that right! No matter what anybody else says—I, Astolfo, will accept you!

Gordes turned and shouted something back, but Astolfo ignored him, they weren't words worth listening to. Instead he focused on the homunculus, and saw the spark of determination light up in his eyes. He saw the magic circuits in the homunculus' arm light up, and Saber's master's reaction of shock. Unfortunately, that was the worst that happened to the man, as his arm turned to metal a moment later, and blunted the worst of the attack.

He could see the fury coursing through Gordes face at the homunculus' defiance, a fury that seemed to be increasing by the moment. He finally broke kicking the homunculus as he shouted "You would try to kill me?! A homunculus?! Kill me?! Never! Never, never, never...!"

Astolfo struggled even harder to escape as Gordes attacked, but he was simply too weak to overpower Saber. He might have been faster and have more Noble Phantasms, but pinned by Saber he had no way to use his advantages. His only hope was to convince the Servant that he was wrong.

"Stop him, Saber! Stop your Master! Quickly...!"

Saber remained silent. But Astolfo wouldn't give up so easily. He gazed directly into Saber's eyes and shouted.

"We took form in this world to have our wishes granted... but that doesn't mean we can just accept anything that happens! Have you forgotten how to be a hero?! I haven't! I am Servant Rider... but I was Charlemagne's paladin, Astolfo! And I won't abandon him! I won't!"

Saber's hand twitched.

* * *

He was failing, again.

This wasn't why he'd reincarnated in this war. His wish wasn't to live again to just watch the same things happen over and over and over again. It wasn't to ignore his own will and sense of justice to follow what someone else wanted. And he had no desire to sacrifice everything he was for others again.

He made a good soldier, Siegfried reflected, but a poor hero.

 _But it doesn't have to stay that way._ he thought as he let Rider fall as he walked toward his master. He pulled him away from the homunculus he'd still been kicking on the ground, saying "Stop, Master."

His Master turned back to him with a look of shocked disbelief as Rider ran past him to the downed homunculus. "What did you say, Saber?"

Things weren't off to a good start if past experience told Siegfried anything, but it was still worth a try. "I said, stop. We should heal him, and let him go."

"What are you saying?" his Master asked him with a blank look on his face. It seemed to take him a moment to even process the request, before he schooled his expression and replied.

"Do not utter such nonsense, Saber... why must we heal and release it?"

If his Master needed the reason explained then Siegfried had no doubt he would never understand it. Which meant that appealing to him with the true reason would be pointless. Beside that his real reason was rather selfish, and while his Master would understand that, he would be unlikely to accept it. For the sake of their relationship, however, he would try it.

"I appeal to your good nature, Master. It would not disadvantage us greatly to grant him salvation."

"Enough. Just be quiet."

His outward expression didn't change, but inwardly he could feel his small hopes falling. "Master..."

"Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up! You're my Servant, aren't you? So follow my orders! A mere familiar is not entitled to give me any opinions! Just shut up and do what I tell you to do!"

He could see the hatred burning in his Master's eyes, and could understand it somewhat. He'd seen the same look on some of the other noble's faces from the court when they'd been slighted by one they considered beneath them. He'd seen it when he'd have to tell a tale from the battlefield that outshone that of another noble at party.

 _Why is one such as this, a mere extension of the King's will, greater than I? Even if he is a prince, one who does menial tasks for the King and us nobles should know his place!_

They hadn't been bad people, merely blinded by pride and upbringing. Even though he knew the answer, for their sake he asked. "Will you not save him?"

"I told you to shut...!"

He sunk his fist in Gordes chest without even waiting for his whole answer, he'd heard enough. Siegfried wouldn't back down from this and it was clear his Master was lost in his own pride. If he waited much longer his Master might have used his last command seal, he'd seen too many of the men from those conversations make a terrible mistake in the next battle owing to a need to over compensate. Without even waiting for his unconscious Master to hit the ground he turned his back on him and looked straight at Rider, holding the hand of the homunculus.

"Saber...?"

He could tell the damage was fatal. The homunculus' chest was caved in and he barely seemed to be breathing. His heart was likely crushed, the homunculus was far too fragile for what his Master had done.

He was too late realizing what he'd been doing again. The homunculus couldn't be saved, not without replacing his heart entirely, and Siegfried doubted even Chiron had the knowledge for that. It was all so pointless to. They'd lost the homunculus for a pointless fit of pride from a low-level mission over the core for…a… homunculus.

 _Homunculi don't have hearts. They have cores._

 _Just like Servants._

Perhaps all wasn't lost after all.

Without answering Rider's call, he approached the two of them while dispelling his woven plates, sword, and even armor, baring his chest.

He knelt before the dying homunculus as Rider glared at him.

"It's too late... it's too late, damn it! Why did it take you so long?! We could have stopped that idiot of a Master before he did anything!"

Rider was right to feel that way, he should have stopped his master long before things had gotten this far. If he had acted earlier what was about to follow might not have been necessary. He could only nod sadly in response.

"Yes... you are right. Yet again, I have strayed onto the wrong path, because of my doubts I've allowed things to reach the worst possible conclusion."

It truly was no different from then... he had thought that by his obedience and sacrifice things would reach their proper end.

He had always made the wrong decisions at critical moments. Bound to his own desires, he'd tried to overlook the weak who cowered before him. He hadn't sought salvation for himself—so he ignored the silent cries of those who had. Such cruelty and callousness weren't the things he'd striven for.

Why had he repeated those same mistakes even in a second life? Saber's heart tightened in remorse and self-hatred.

"However, there is still a chance. It is not over yet."

"It's impossible, even I know that!" Rider snapped back without looking away. It took Rider a moment to turn around in with violence in his eyes and a clenched fist, when he did he froze as soon as he saw what he was doing.

"Wha...?!" he heard the Servant try to start. He supposed he would have been shocked too. It wasn't every day you saw a person ripping into their own chest. It was the only way to reliably get to his core without damaging it. Using Balmung he might have damaged it or one of the prana path's leading to it, and he had no idea how it would interact with his Armor of Fafnir. Which meant it had to be done by hand. His armor of Fafnir would ignore his own body and his gauntleted fingers helped him to dig into his chest.

It hurt more than he'd imagined, made what was one of the most unpleasant noises he'd ever heard, and was leading to fountains of blood pouring from his chest, but he knew it was what he had to do, and so he endured it.

Rider snapped out of the daze he'd been in as he asked "What, are you...?"

"Perhaps this is not enough to atone for my sins. In fact, I may simply be burdening him with the same ignoble fate and untimely end as mine. But... this life is something he deserves, and is mine to offer."

He finally reached his heart and yanked it out quickly. It was redder than he imagined it would it be, but it still beat strongly, yet to realize it had been removed. He quickly lifted the homunculus and forced him to swallow it. It may have been grotesque, but it wasn't without reason.

While giving he and his master a tour of the lab he'd set up Caster had explained the combat function of each homunculus. His Master had gone on it to see how the homunculi he'd suggested and helped create had been enhanced by Caster. During the tour Caster had explained how each homunculus was able to ingest the core of another to recover its own. A method to allow a homunculus with a damaged core to get some use out of another dead or heavily injured comrade who could no longer fight. Caster truly was a master at golem and homunculus creation, Siegfried had to admit, despite his personal dislike for the measure.

He doubted that Caster had ever imagined a Servant making use of the feature, though.

It would cost him his own life in exchange, but it was more than worth it. He knew that as he felt the homunculus' heart start beating again, and his very form seemed to change in response to the new core.

"Why... why did you...?" Rider asked, dumbstruck.

Siegfried smiled back at him softly as he replied. "Thank you, Rider. I had almost lost sight of my goal."

He felt his feet begin to turn into golden particles. The loss of one of his cores meant that he could no longer remain in this world, but he felt strangely at peace in a way he hadn't in his first death. His death this time was of his own choosing, and while it may have save another, it hadn't simply been because someone had declared it right. It was his choice, decided by his sense of justice.

"No, Saber... you can't! Saber! Don't leave!"

Rider yelled at him with a mix of disbelief, grief, and anger on his face. As he trembled and held back tears, he couldn't help but think Rider looked for all the world like a lovely maiden. The ones who had fought beside him must have done all they could to impress him...

 _To consider such trifling things even in such a state... I must be hardier a fool than I had realized_.

He couldn't help but smile a bit at that.

"Why did you do it...?"

Despite the pain in Rider's voice, he had no intent to explain his motives. How could someone as pure as Rider understand his agony? Rider had always done what he'd thought best, how could he understand the will of someone who had only ever followed what others thought he should do?

However, there was one thing that he was certain of, he thought as he faded away.

"Yes... this, is a good end..."

* * *

"You're alive... yes... thank you... thank you, thank you...!" was the first thing the Homunculus heard as he returned to consciousness. He felt Rider rubbing his face on his, and the tears that were cascading down his cheeks.

"Ahh..." was all he could get out. His mouth tasted like iron and it was hard to talk as he tried to swallow the liquid that was in it.

Rider seemed overjoyed at it, however, and eagerly exclaimed.

"Are you all right?! You are, aren't you?! Can you stand? All right, good! Now you can..."

Rider cut off abruptly and as the homunculus looked at himself it was easy to see why.

"What... happened to me?"

He raised his upper body off the ground, with a strength his arms had never had before as he marveled at the changes to his body. It seemed he had undergone a rather unique transformation.

* * *

"This was my garden in ages past, the **Hanging Gardens of Babylon**. It's been too long since I last saw them. Well, what do you make of it, Master?"

Semiramis delighted in Shiro's obvious wonder at her **Hanging Gardens of Babylon.** It truly was a wondrous construct, a majestic floating castle with the greatest plants from every nation hanging over it. It was almost invincible as a weapon and inspired awe in all who saw it.

 _Much like me, now that I think about it._ She thought with a giggle. It seemed her master agreed as he replied saying.

"Wonderful. I trust my requests were met?"

 _The Garden can meet all of our needs and more, my Master._

"But of course, my Master, let us activate the Garden as soon as Berserker and Archer return. Those dismal Servants of Black will certainly lose their wits when they witness this!" she couldn't help but add.

"Thank you. This is a golden opportunity for us, now that the Saber of Black has vanished due to some unforeseen trouble. No doubt the Rider on our side will move in as well. It will be the decisive battle, the first and final conflict of the Great Grail War."

Despite setbacks to their plan on multiple levels, including Ruler's escape, the lack of a clash between Saber and Rider, and an all-out attack by the Black Servants forcing them back things were still going well. The Black faction had lost their Saber through what seemed to be internal strife, evening the playing field greatly and costing them one of their best Servants.

 _Now both sides will lack a Saber, I wonder if that could happen in any other War like this. Though I doubt so many exceptional Servants would be summoned in any other War, let alone a Great Grail War. That our Saber is expendable is a testament to how powerful the rest of our Servants are, other than Caster that is, but I more than make up for his deficiencies. I'm beginning to think that the Saber class is a bit overrated._

She was drawn back to the conversation as she heard her class being called. A part of her wished it was her true name, but that was one she quickly clamped down on.

"Let us go, Assassin. I won't let that tragedy happen again, the Greater Grail will be ours." Shiro said with a look of pure determination.

She couldn't help but smile and agree. Together they would be more than powerful enough to bring the Black faction to their knees.

And then they would have the Grail all to themselves.

* * *

 **Berserker of the Red**

Achilles, The Greatest Hero of the Trojan War

STR: A

END: A

AGL: A+

MGI: C

LCK: D

NP A+

 **Noble Phantasms:**

Dromeus Kometes, Comet Form A+

Andreias Amarantos, Amaranth of the Brave: B

Diatrekhon Aster Lonkhe, Spear-Tip of the Star Traversing the Skies: B+

One of the Greatest Greek Heroes, summoned at this prime. Being summoned as a Berserker in the Great Grail War has modified his skills, as his Berserker form is from when he fought in the Trojan War. Achilles was driven into a kind of Madness after the death of his companion, Patroclus, and that moment is what his Berserker form would normally represent. The similarities between the clashes of heroes in the Trojan War and Great Grail War is extraordinary, and has warped Achilles nature as a Berserker. He retains his abnormal speed, and has made gains in his experience with fighting other heroes as a result of his battles with Hector and his experiences with Odysseus. He is both stronger and smarter than he would normally be as a Rider or Lancer, though he is much more eager for a fight.

 **Class Skills:**

Mad Enhancement: ?

The Great Grail War has warped Achilles Mad Enhancement Skill, making it a reenactment of his legend. Achilles went what can only be described as mad during the Trojan War after slaying Hector, parading his corpse around in a way unfit for a hero of almost any age. In an ordinary war he would simply have a Mad Enhancement Rank of around E, making him more blood thirsty and war like, though there is a chance that should a master with a close bond die it would immediately increase to A as he sought revenge.

In the Great Grail War, however, the way his Mad Enhancement works has changed. Through spending time with the other Servants and Masters Achilles will doubtless find a "companion" to rely on. War drives men closer together, and Achilles personality makes it especially easy to form these bonds. While Achilles companion is alive, his Mad Enhancement will have only minor affects, such as making him more likely to fight or seek battles. If the companion dies, however, then Achilles will be driven into a frenzy, relentlessly pursuing the one who killed his companion regardless of the situation. This rampage will not stop after they are dead, and will only end once Achilles is slain.

Magic Resistance: D

Being the child of a goddess grants Achilles minor Magic Resistance. The rank is irrelevant while his Andrieas Amarantos is active, as it will negate all attacks that attempt to affect him. If it is lost, however, than Achilles must be wary of even low level magic attacks.

 **Personal Skills**

Battle Continuation: A

Affection of the Goddess: D

His rank of Affection of the Goddess has dropped due to his conduct in the Trojan War. Many of the Gods frowned on his behavior after killing Hector, and Thetis blessing is no longer as strong as it was, counter acted by the ill will of the other Gods.

Bravery: A

Divinity: C

Tactics: E

Achilles time with Odysseus and the other commanders of the Greek forces has taught him the basics of tactics. While insufficient to lead an army, Achilles is more likely to recognize traps and faints and other strategies being employed. This skill is sealed, however, if he enters into his frenzied state.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **So we get to the first battle scene and the end of the first volume. Achilles shows off his stuff as a Berserker and Seigfried dies, though Sieg gets to live now. I'm a lot happier with how this Chapter went than the last one, expect to see more of scenes playing out from a single perspective going forward. It's more interesting when we can only see from one view point, rather than switching back and forth between them. It also makes it so I can retread scenes from the novel, but from a different perspective, making them fresher and interesting to reread.**

 **Some of you may have noticed I've changed how Master Servant communication works. For reason that are never fully laid out, servants and masters who aren't paired can suddenly communicate with each other in Apocrypha. It makes no sense and is always played for convenience in the light novel, such as Chiron talking to Fran about going after Atalanta, but not being able to tell Gordes or Seigfried that Rider is Achilles. I've returned it to the normal Fate style, Masters can only talk with their own Servants. It adds an information asymmetry that is a bit more interesting, and forces coordination between the Masters.**

 **Achilles has undergone the most changes of any returning servant in the story, so I'd like to take a minute to talk about him. His Mad Enhancement has been changed partially because it's a way to keep him in the story as a character, and partially because it's a perfect fit for the Great Grail War. His Noble Phantasms remain unchanged, which is why they aren't listed, all the info is available on the wiki. Achilles companion mentioned in his stat sheet is Atalanta, its why he retreats when she asks him to. He also recognizes that Vlad is a uniquely bad match for him, being able to target his heel far more accurately than any other Servant. Atalanta's request, combined with his own concerns cause him to retreat, he would rather fight in a more glorious battle tomorrow than die in a forest today.**

 **I don't know whether my next upload will be another chapter of this story or my other story, but I'll hopefully see you all soon.**


End file.
